ng that Pitt fulfilled the suggestion
by giving his influence in favour of Lord Somerville, who displaced
Sinclair at the Board in 1798? Loughborough it was who suggested the
change;[431] but Pitt must have approved it; and thereafter the Board
deteriorated.

In truth the thane of Thurso had become a bore. His letters to Pitt teem
with advice on foreign politics and the distillation of whisky, on new
taxes and high farming, on increasing the silver coinage and checking
smuggling, on manning the navy and raising corps of Fencibles. Wisdom
flashing forth in these diverse forms begets distrust. Sinclair the
omniscient correspondent injured Sinclair the agrarian reformer. Young
treated the Prime Minister with more tact. His letters were fewer, and
his help was practical. A pleasing instance of this was his presence at
Holwood in April 1798, when Pitt was draining the hillside near his
house, so as to preserve it from damp and provide water for the farm and
garden below. Young drew up the scheme, went down more than once to
superintend the boring and trenching, and then added these words: "I beg
you will permit me to give such attention merely and solely as a mark of
gratitude for the goodness I have already experienced at your
hands."[432]

Sinclair, now member for Petersfield, brought his General Enclosure Bill
before Parliament in 1797. In order to meet the objections of
tithe-owners and lawyers, he divided it into two parts, the former
applying to parishes where all the persons concerned were unanimous, the
latter where this was not the case. Even so the measure met with
opposition from the legal profession; and on 13th May he wrote to Pitt
expressing deep concern at the opposition of the Solicitor-General. In
July he besought Pitt to make the Bill a Cabinet measure in order to
"prevent either legal or ecclesiastical prejudices operating against
it." Nevertheless Pitt remained neutral, and the Bill was lost in the
Lords, mainly owing to the opposition of the Lord Chancellor.[433] In
December Sinclair announced his intention of bringing in a Bill for the
improvement of waste land; but, he added significantly, "I should be
glad previously to know whether it is your intention to support that
measure or not." Pitt gave no sign, and the proposal did not come
forward.

Pitt's treatment of one of the most important questions of that time
deserves censure. We may grant that the fussiness of Sinclair told
against his proposal