by appointing a Board of Control, the president of which was to be a member of the Government. But Pitt had a great many other reforms in view. He saw that Parliament did not represent the people, and he tried to do away with some of the small and rotten boroughs, and give more members to large cities and towns, and to populous counties. In this he failed, as too many powerful persons wished to keep things as they were. He also sought to make trade freer between Hngland and other countries. Pitt had studied and accepted the views of a famous book called the "Wealth of Nations," published in 1776, the author of which was Adam Smith, a Professor in a Scotch University. Pitt partly carried out Smith's doctrines by lowering the export and import duties on many articles. In this way he checked smuggling, and the public revenue was increased. He saw that Ireland was suffering from poverty, because she had no markets for her products, and he offered to admit Irish goods into English markets if the Irish Parliament would allow England to send her goods into Ireland. This the Irish Parliament refused to do because England did not propose to give to Ireland the right to trade in all her ports at home and abroad. Pitt was much disappointed at the refusal of his offer, but he succeeded in making trade freer with France. Pitt also put a stop to the practice of borrowing money from political friends at high rates of interest, and of giving them the privilege of doing work for the Government at their own prices. So, in many ways, he saved the public money, and began to lessen the public debt.
2. French Revolution.—Under such a wise and careful minister, who kept the country at peace and encourged trade and commerce, the people were very prosperous, and the population and wealth of the nation grew rapidly. But in 1783 it looked as if Pitt's power would soon be at an end. George III. had an attack of insanity which lasted so long that Parliament began to take steps to have his son George, the Prince of Wales, appointed Regent. The Prince of Wales was a great friend of Fox, and Pitt and Fox both expected that when the Prince became Regent, Pitt would go out of office, and Fox would come in. So when a Regency Bill was brought in which proposed to state what the power of the Regent should be, Fox wanted the Prince to become Regent at once with all the power of the king, but this Pitt would not allow. While the two parties were disputing the old king recovered, and then the Bill was
