prevalence of discontent early in 1798 and the threatened coalition
of Irish and British malcontents will be noticed in the following
chapter. Pitt was so impressed by the danger as to press for the
suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act and the renewal of the Aliens Act
(April 1798). As happened in 1794, the revival of coercion produced
vehement protests. Already the Duke of Norfolk had flung defiance at
Ministers. Presiding at a great banquet held at the Crown and Anchor, on
the occasion of Fox's birthday, 24th January, he not only compared the
great orator to Washington, but hinted that the 2,000 men present might
do as much as Washington's handful had done in America. Finally he
proposed the distinctly Jacobinical toast, "Our Sovereign, the Majesty
of the People." For this he was dismissed from the command of a militia
regiment and from the Lord Lieutenancy of the West Riding of Yorkshire.

Fox chose to repeat the toast early in May 1798, when large parts of
Ireland were on the brink of revolt. In so dire a crisis it behoved a
leading man to weigh his words. But the wilful strain in his nature set
all prudence at defiance. Thereupon several of Pitt's friends
recommended a public prosecution for sedition, or at least a reprimand
at the bar of the House of Commons. To the former course Pitt objected
as giving Fox too much consequence, besides running the risk of an
acquittal; but he saw some advantage in the latter course; for (as he
wrote to Dundas) Fox, when irritated by the reprimand, would probably
offer a new insult and could then be sent to the Tower for the rest of
the Session. The suggestion is perhaps the pettiest in the whole of
Pitt's correspondence; but probably it was due to the extremely grave
situation in Ireland and the fear of a French invasion. Further, Fox had
ceased to attend the House of Commons; and a member who shirks his duty
is doubly guilty when he proposes a seditious toast. Pitt, however, did
not push matters to extremes, and the course actually adopted was the
removal of the name of Fox from the Privy Council by the hand of
George III on 9th May.

Sixteen days later, Pitt and Tierney had a passage of arms in the
House. That pugnacious Irishman had thrust himself to the fore during
the secession of Fox and other prominent Whigs from the House, and had
to bear many reproaches for his officiousness. He also nagged at Pitt at
every opportunity, until, on his opposing a motion of urgency for a Bi