socialism, such as the formation of 'schools of industry,' and the supply of cows to paupers. The bill was laid before the commons, but it was severely criticised, and was abandoned (Times, 19 March 1838; Stanhope, ii. 365-7; Rosebery, pp. 169-70) [see Bentham, Jeremy.]
Early in 1795 Pitt had to meet an Irish difficulty. In 1785 he had sought to give Ireland the same commercial position as England, and to effect a parliamentary reform on a protestant basis (Lecky, vi. 375). The French revolution, which won much sympathy in protestant Ulster, inclined him, however, to favour the claims of the Roman catholics, in whom he detected a powerful conservative element. Misled by the anti-catholic spirit in Europe, he believed, too, that the papal system was near its end (ib. p. 497). He consequently supported the English Catholic Relief Bill of 1791, and insisted, with reference to the Irish Catholic Relief Bill of 1792, that the government should not pledge itself against further concessions. He considered that a legislative union would be the means by which catholics might most safely be admitted to the franchise (ib. 513). Already in the rejection of his commercial proposals and in the differences that had developed themselves on the subject of the regency he had been impressed by the difficulties arising from legislative independence. The Catholic Relief Act, passed by the Irish House of Commons in 1793, was due to the pressure that his government brought to bear on the government in Ireland, but the act stopped short of complete emancipation, and failed to alleviate Irish discontent. The whigs who joined Pitt in 1794 urged on him a policy of reform and emancipation. Pitt promised that Lord Fitzwilliam [see Fitzwilliam, William Wentworth, second Earl], a strong whig, should be appointed viceroy, and Portland and Fitzwilliam at once led the whig leaders in Ireland to believe that there would be a complete change of system and administration. Pitt had no intention of surrendering Ireland to the whigs, but to avoid a split in the cabinet he nominated Fitzwilliam, on the vague understanding that there were to be no sweeping changes, and that the admission of catholics to parliament should not be treated as a government question, though if he were pressed he might yield (Life of Grattan, iv. 177). Fitzwilliam, on his arrival in Ireland, dismissed John Beresford [q. v.] and other tory officials, and informed the cabinet that emancipation must be granted immediately. Pitt, with the assent of the cabinet, straightway recalled him, and thus roused the bitterest animosity among the exasperated catholics (Lecky, vii. 1-98; Rosebery, pp. 174-85). Pitt's error lay in not giving Fitzwilliam more explicit instructions. The king was hostile to emancipation, and, although Pitt himself desired it, he considered that the time for it had not yet come. The personal question involved in the dismissal of his political friends also weighed much with him.
By the end of 1795 he was anxious for peace, and in March 1796 caused proposals to be laid before the French directory. They failed, and on 10 May Fox made their failure the occasion of a strenuous attack on the conduct of the war. Pitt replied ably, and had a majority of 216 to 42. In his budget, besides a new loan, he announced additions to the assessed taxes, and to the duties on horses and tobacco, and introduced a new tax on collateral successions (Dowell, ii. 213-15). A dissolution followed, and in the new parliament his majority was maintained. During the year Great Britain made some gains in the West Indies, but the French, though suffering some temporary reverses in Germany, conquered Italy. In the course of the general election Pitt had found it necessary to support the emperor by a loan of 1,200,000l., and he raised it without the consent of parliament. When attacked on the grant by the opposition in December, he argued that the loan came under the head of 'extraordinaries,' recognised as necessary in times of war ; but, although he obtained a majority of 285 to 81, opinion was against him, and he promised not to repeat the irregularity. In the late autumn further attempts to obtain peace proved futile. France refused to give up the Netherlands Malmesbury, Diaries, iii. 259-365), and threatened an invasion of Ireland. Pitt appealed to British patriotism by issuing a loyalty loan of eighteen millions at 5 per cent., which was taken up with enthusiasm at 100l. for 112l. 10s. stock. In his budget for 1797 he imposed additional taxes of over two millions, the incidence of which he made as general as possible, the more important being a third addition of 10 per cent, on the assessed taxes, and additions to the duties on tea, sugar, and spirits. The failure of the peace negotiations led to a run on the Bank of England. The directors appealed to Pitt for help, and on 26 Feb. 1797 cash payments were suspended by an order in council. The victory off Cape St. Vincent (14 Feb.) gave him only temporary consolation, for the mutiny of the fleet at the Nore in May, when the Dutch fleet was threatening invasion,
