William Pitt and the Great War

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William Pitt, in later life. (From a painting by
Hoppner in the National Portrait Gallery)
WILLIAM PITT
AND
THE GREAT WAR
BY
J. HOLLAND ROSE, Litt.D.

England and France have held in
their hands the fate of the world,
especially that of European
civilization. How much harm we
have done one another: how much
good we might have done!—Napoleon
to Colonel Wilks, 20th April 1816.
Emblem
LONDON
G. BELL AND SONS, LTD.
1911
CHISWICK PRESS: CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO.
TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON.
PREFACE
In the former volume, entitled "William Pitt and National
Revival," I sought to trace the career of Pitt the Younger
up to the year 1791. Until then he was occupied almost
entirely with attempts to repair the evils arising out of
the old order of things. Retrenchment and Reform were his
first watchwords; and though in the year 1785 he failed in
his efforts to renovate the life of Parliament and to
improve the fiscal relations with Ireland, yet his
domestic policy in the main achieved a surprising success.
Scarcely less eminent, though far less known, were his
services in the sphere of diplomacy. In the year 1783,
when he became First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor
of the Exchequer, nearly half of the British Empire was
torn away, and the remainder seemed to be at the mercy of

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