A GENERAL ELECTION.
Pitt had good reasons to believe that a general election would result greatly in his favour. There can be no doubt, indeed, that if he had adopted such a measure at the first, that he would have been spared the trouble of contending with the opposition. At the same time if parliament had been dissolved on an earlier day, it is probable that he might not have had such bright prospects for the future. Every day his conduct seemed to gain him friends among the people; while on the other hand the popularity of his rival rapidly decreased. There were two grand causes which led to the decay of the popularity of Fox; namely, his coalition with Lord North and his party; and his India Bill, which arrayed against him not only the influence of the East India Company, but also of almost all the good citizens of London. The city of London had, indeed, showed much sympathy with the youthful premier, Pitt, in this memorable struggle. At the latter end of February, they voted him the freedom of the city, which they presented to him in great state at the house of Lord Chatham, in Berkeley-square, whence he was conducted by the committee to a grand dinner at the Grocers’-hall. What sentiments were entertained towards him may be gathered from the speech which Wilkes, the chamberlain of the city, made on this occasion. After lavishing much praise on Pitt, he thus alluded to the parliamentary contest, which was then at its height:—“I know, sir, how high you stand in the confidence of the public: much is to be done, but you have youth, capacity, and firmness; it is the characteristic of a true patriot never to despair. Your noble father, sir, annihilated party; and, I hope you will, in the end, bear down and conquer the hydra of faction, which now rears its hundred heads against you. I remember his saying, that for the good of the people he dared to look the proudest connexions of this country in the face: I trust that the same spirit animates his son: and as he has the same support of the crown, and of the people, I am firmly persuaded that the same success will follow.” But the sentiments which the people of England entertained towards Pitt and his rival were more fully manifested, during, and by, the results of the election. The Pitt candidates were returned on every hand by triumphant majorities, and not less than one hundred and sixty of the old members of opposition lost their seats, and were sent back to private life with the ludicrous appellation of “Fox’s Martyrs.” But it must not be supposed that this result was entirely owing to the popularity of the young premier. The press, that mighty engine for good or evil, had been set to work to undermine the power of the coalition, and lampoons and satires on Fox and North had been printed daily and scattered throughout the country. Moreover, as Pitt had from the first contemplated a dissolution of parliament, every influence which a government could command had been employed in his favour. Finally, the youth of Pitt, and the bold stand he had made against his opponents, had a powerful tendency to gain him the support of the nation. Though inexperienced, men saw in him the future champion of parliamentary reform; and the powerful antagonist of that aristocratic confederacy, against which his father had exerted his talents. The star of Pitt was, in truth, in the ascendant; while that of his rival set in gloom. Fox was returned to parliament, but it was with some difficulty that he obtained a seat. He was a candidate for Westminster, and had a majority on the poll over Sir Cecil Wray, but the high-bailiff, by a scandalous partiality, refused to make a return in his favour. Fox brought an action against the bailiff in the court of king’s bench, and obtained considerable damages; and in the meantime, he secured a seat for the borough of Kirkwall, in Orkney, by which he exposed himself to the ridicule of his enemies as a person banished to the “Ultima Thule.”
GEORGE III. 1784-1786