to extend their empire, and overturn the
balance of power, and encroach on the liberties of England, then Pitt,
sustained by an overwhelming majority in parliament, declared war upon
France, (1793.) The advocates of the French Revolution, however, take
different views, and attribute the rise and career of Napoleon to the
jealousy and encroachments of England herself, as well as of Austria
and Prussia. Whether the general European war might not have been
averted, is a point which merits inquiry, and on which British
statesmen are not yet agreed. But the connection of England with this
great war will be presented in the following chapter.

Mr. Pitt continued to manage the helm of state until 1806; but all his
energies were directed to the prosecution of the war, and no other
events of importance took place during his administration.

[Sidenote: Policy of Pitt.]

His genius most signally was displayed in his financial skill in
extricating his nation from the great embarrassments which resulted
from the American war, and in providing the means to prosecute still
more expensive campaigns against Napoleon and his generals. He also
had unrivalled talent in managing the House of Commons against one of
the most powerful oppositions ever known, and in a period of great
public excitements. He was always ready in debate, and always retained
the confidence of the nation. He is probably the greatest of the
English statesmen, so far as talents are concerned, and so far as he
represented the ideas and sentiments of his age. But it is a question
which will long perplex philosophers whether he was the wisest of that
great constellation of geniuses who enlightened his brilliant age. To
him may be ascribed the great increase of the national debt. If taxes
are the greatest calamity which can afflict a nation, then Pitt has
entailed a burden of misery which will call forth eternal curses on
his name, in spite of all the brilliancy of his splendid
administration. But if the glory and welfare of nations consist in
other things--in independence, patriotism, and rational liberty; if it
was desirable, above all material considerations, to check the current
of revolutionary excess, and oppose the career of a man who aimed to
bring all the kings and nations of Europe under the yoke of an
absolute military despotism, and rear a universal empire on the ruins
of ancient monarchies and states,--then Pitt and his government should
be contemplated in