In the address from the throne, on the 31st of January, 1792, George III. expressed the firm hope of seeing peace maintained; he even counselled a diminution of the land and naval forces. With an assurance more bold than prudent, Pitt announced in his Budget, a progressive reduction of the taxes. He said, that though he was aware of the many contingencies which, by disturbing the public tranquillity, might prevent such a design, yet there never was a time, in the history of this country, when, from the situation of Europe, fifteen years of peace might more reasonably be expected, than at the present moment. Still occupied exclusively with internal questions, Pitt sustained, energetically, the bill for the abolition of the slave trade, proposed anew by Wilberforce and his friends; he regulated the legislation regarding the press, henceforth relegated to the jurisdiction of a jury; finally, he presented a bill regarding loans.
Since the illness of the king, and the treachery he had meditated, Lord Thurlow had remained secretly hostile to Pitt. On the 15th of May, 1792, he vehemently and unexpectedly attacked the financial bill, declaring that it was absurd to pretend to dictate to future parliaments and to proscribe to future ministers a line of action.
"None," said his lordship, "but a novice, a sycophant, a mere reptile of a minister, would allow this act to prevent him doing what, in his own judgment, circumstances might require at the time; and a change in the situation of the country might render that which is proper at one time, inapplicable at another: in short, the scheme is nugatory and impracticable; the inaptness of the project is only equalled by the vanity of the attempt." Pitt finally lost all patience: he declared to the king that it was impossible for him to continue to sit in the same cabinet with Lord Thurlow. George III. did not hesitate; the chancellor was ordered to deliver up the great seal to his majesty. Some months later Lord Loughborough, who had become ardently favorable to the minister, since the fall of Thurlow, was made chancellor (January, 1793).
Mr. Pitt was appointed Warden of the Cinque Ports, a rich sinecure long held by Lord North, and now, upon the death of that nobleman, conferred upon the minister by the king. "I will not receive any recommendations for this office," wrote the king, "having resolved to confer it only upon Mr. Pitt;" and when he sent his letter to Mr. Dundas, charged to forward it to Pitt, then absent, George III. added: "Mr. Dundas is to forward my letter to the West, and to accompany it with a few lines, expressing that I will not admit of this favor being denied. I desire Lord Chatham may also write, and that Mr. Dundas will take the first opportunity of acquainting Lord Grenville of the step I have taken." The office was worth £3,000 per year. For the first time Pitt consented to accept the favor which was thus imposed upon him by his sovereign.
Pitt was now seriously occupied with the state of Europe. The King of Sweden, Gustavus III., had been assassinated at a masked ball; the Emperor Leopold was dead; his son, the Emperor Francis, in concert with the King of Prussia, declared war against France. The position of Louis XVI. became each day more precarious. Tossed about without hope, at one time contemplating impossible resistance, at another, useless concessions, he had, on the 20th of June, 1792, endured the insults and outrages of the Parisian populace. The allied troops, under the Duke of Brunswick, had already entered French territory. The princes of the House of Bourbon, at the head of the emigré's, prepared themselves to sustain the operations of the foreigners; an ill-timed manifesto excited still further the passions of the French. On the 10th of August, 1792, the palace of the Tuilleries was attacked, and the Swiss guards massacred. The king, suspended from his royal functions, was confined in the Temple, with his family; the convention was convoked, and the prisoners in the dungeons of Paris were murdered.
Amidst the chaos which reigned in Paris, La Fayette, who commanded a French army upon the frontier, could not resolve to defend a state of things each day more contrary to his presumptuous expectations; he secretly quitted his command, intending to fly to America. He was arrested by the allies and put in prison at Olmutz. General Dumouriez fought the allied army at Jemappes, on the 6th of November, 1792. Kellerman had defeated them at Valmy on the 20th of September; the allied troops evacuated French territory, and the French army entered Belgium. Savoy was already in the hands of the French troops, and General Custine advanced into Germany. By its decree of the 19th of November, the Convention declared, in the name of the French nation, that they would grant succor and fraternity to every people who desire to obtain liberty.
Before this supreme disregard of ancient rights and international conventions, Mr. Pitt, still favorable to preserving neutrality, was nevertheless alarmed at the threatened fate of Holland. He wrote to his colleague, the Marquis of Stafford, that the strange and unfortunate events which have succeeded each other so rapidly upon the continent, give us ample material for serious reflection. That which is most urgent is the situation of Holland. However painful it may be to see this country engaged, it seemed impossible to him, to hesitate upon the question of sustaining our ally in case of necessity; and the explicit declaration of our sentiments is the best way to avoid this situation at present. Perhaps some opening would present itself which would allow us to contribute to the termination of the war between the different powers of Europe, by leaving France to arrange her internal affairs as well as she could; which was, he thought, the best plan. The trial of Louis XVI. had already commenced.
Pitt yet clung to the hope of an impossible peace; already Lord Gower, the English Ambassador at Paris, had been recalled; Chauvelin and his clever secretary Talleyrand, were in London, but not as yet in any official capacity. Chauvelin was about to present his credentials in the name of the French Republic, when the condemnation and death of Louis XVI. abruptly terminated the relations which still existed between revolutionary France and monarchical countries.