National Debt introduced in 1786. His plan was based
on the comparatively familiar idea of a sinking fund. Up to the time of
Pitt's proposal, however, such sinking fund as might exist in a time of
peace was always liable to be taken over and {240} made use of by the
Government in a time of war. Pitt's plan was to form a sinking fund
which should be made inalienable by an Act of Parliament until the Act
creating it should be repealed by another Act of Parliament. For this
purpose Pitt created a Board of Commissioners consisting of the Speaker,
the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Master of the Rolls, the
Accountant-General, and the Governor and Deputy-Governor of the Bank of
England. To this independent and distinguished body of men the sum of
one million sterling was to be handed over annually for the gradual
redemption of the existing debt by the purchase of stock.

The story of Pitt's early administration was not all a record of success.
For the last time, and unsuccessfully, he attempted to bring about a
Parliamentary reform. For the first time, and no less unsuccessfully, he
tried to bring about that better understanding between England and
Ireland which it was his merit always to desire, and his misfortune never
to accomplish. In spite of his genius, his eloquence, and his
popularity, his position in the House of Commons was in a sense
precarious. It was not merely that he had the bad luck to be opposed by
such a galaxy of ability as has perhaps never before or since dazzled
from the benches of Opposition the eyes of any minister of Pitt's
intellectual power. To be fought against relentlessly, tirelessly, by a
Sheridan, a Burke, and a Fox would have been bad enough for a statesman
at the head of a large and reliable majority and enjoying the uncheckered
confidence of his sovereign. But Pitt did not enjoy the uncheckered
confidence of the King, and Pitt's majority was not reliable. Lord
Rosebery quotes an analysis of the House of Commons dated May 1, 1788,
recently discovered among the papers of one of Pitt's private
secretaries, which serves to show how uncertain Pitt's position was, and
how fluctuating the elements upon which he had to depend for his
political existence. In this document the "Party of the Crown"--an
ominous term--is set down as consisting of 185 members, including "all
those who would probably support his Majesty's Government under any
minister not {241} peculiarly unpopular." No less