Pitt’s second ministry, 1804–06

Pitt’s second ministry was weaker than the first, for the Addington group, as well as others, went into opposition. The Third Coalition against Napoleon’s France—an alliance with Russia, Sweden, and Austria engineered by Pitt—collapsed after the battles of Ulm and Austerlitz in 1805, and the year closed in disaster, in spite of Nelson’s victory at Trafalgar in October, which ended the invasion threat and ensured Britain’s naval supremacy for the rest of the war. Pitt’s health, never robust, was now failing. He made his last public speech at the Guildhall in London on November 9, 1805. By January 15, 1806, some of his colleagues were determined to force him to resign as the only means of saving his life, and the King was thinking about his successor. He died a few weeks later and was buried in Westminster Abbey on February 22. A motion for a grant of £40,000 to pay his debts was unanimously carried in the Commons. Earlier (1801), his friends had raised £12,000 in order to relieve him from embarrassment. Careless to a fault about money and engrossed with public affairs, he had allowed his large official income to be squandered by irresponsible servants and tradesmen.

Private life and character

Though eloquent and forceful in Parliament and Cabinet, Pitt made no impact in society and altogether lacked the common touch. He was always notably withdrawn. He never married. He had few friends. Even members of the government complained of his inaccessibility. In 1801 his resignation from office caused extraordinarily little sensation; a contemporary wrote that “nobody speaks of him; no addresses, no subscriptions, no stir of any kind any where.” Long before his death, bodily infirmities, increased by his addiction to port, curtailed his working day.

Pitt’s experience was remarkably limited. He never set foot in Scotland or Ireland; the greater part even of England was unknown to him. He was once in France—for a few weeks. He never came into touch with men of letters or original thinkers; in his official patronage he neglected literature, science, and the arts. He was long overconfident of success in every cause he espoused; in the end only the weight of ill health and Napoleon’s great victories of 1805 began to shatter his optimism. Although at first connected with the movement for parliamentary reform, he made no attempts to reintroduce the issue after the failure of his bill in 1785. He made no effort to deal with the social problems caused by the Industrial Revolution; and in all his long years of office, nothing was done to reform the barbarous criminal law, the harsh game laws, prison administration, and local government. Nevertheless, by reason of his superb debating powers he dominated the House of Commons, even in that age of notable oratory. His conduct in Parliament had a mixture of prudence, firmness, and transcendent ability never before seen and hardly ever again surpassed.

Historical importance

The constitutional significance of Pitt’s career has often been misunderstood. He was not a prime minister of the modern type. At no time was he the leader of a well-organized, coherent party commanding a majority of the House of Commons, which itself owed its existence to the will of the electorate. He was not at all the choice of the country; he was the nominee of the King, and he retained office only as long as he retained the King’s confidence. He had to resign in 1801 because his Irish policy was not acceptable to George III. Even though the inadequacy as a wartime prime minister of his successor made Pitt’s return to office almost inevitable three years later, Pitt did not return on his own terms but on the King’s. He was more dependent on the King’s favour than he was on the support of the House of Commons. His most serious crisis came in the winter of 1788–89, when, during George III’s madness, Pitt lost the support of the crown. Had the dissolute Prince of Wales, who favoured the opposition, become regent, Pitt would certainly have been dismissed. Without the support of the crown, neither he nor anyone else could remain long in office. Moreover, there were obvious limitations to his absolute authority in the Cabinet, where various colleagues opposed him on all the great questions of the day. And, finally, Pitt had to deal with a sovereign of narrow intellect and with intense and irrational prejudices—though, indeed, these were shared by a great many of George III’s subjects.

Although Pitt’s supremacy in the Cabinet has often been exaggerated, the necessity for a prime minster who would supervise and coordinate the work of the various departments and possess the chief confidence of the king was never again questioned after his ministries. Pitt’s achievement of this status, while depending upon his forcefulness of character, was only made possible by his long tenure of office. His total of 19 years in power exceeded by almost 7 years the tenure of office, earlier in the 18th century, of Sir Robert Walpole, often regarded as “the first” British prime minister, and that of Lord North, nearer Pitt’s own time.

It is sometimes claimed that Pitt emerged as the leader of a new Tory Party. Certainly, as a minister who accepted the royal prerogative, he represented the traditions of the Tory, or Court, Party, as distinct from those of the Whigs, who sought to dictate to the crown the choice of its servants; but he was far from being a great party leader commanding the votes of a majority in the House of Commons. He had a personal following of little more than 50. In spite of persistent efforts, great speeches, and the support of powerful and eloquent members, he failed to pass a slave trade abolition bill, a parliamentary reform bill, and Catholic relief bills.