t and
his coadjutors; and, as if impatient for their overthrow, Fox suggested
that the recess should be a very short one, and it was resolved to
adjourn only till the 12th of January.

CHAPTER XIV.

{GEORGE III. 1784-1786}

The Trial of Parties and Triumph of Pitt..... A General
Election..... Meeting of the New Parliament ..... Acts to
prevent Smuggling, etc...... The Budget of 1784..... Pitt's
India Bill..... Bill for the Restoration of Forfeited
Estates in Scotland..... Prorogation of Parliament..... The
State of Ireland..... Meeting of Parliament..... The
Westminster Scrutiny..... Pitt's Reform Bill..... Pitt's
Financial Measures..... The Affairs of Ireland.....
Continental Affairs.

{A.D. 1784}

THE TRIAL OF PARTIES, AND TRIUMPH OF PITT.

On the reassembling of parliament, opposition hoped to show that no
power in the constitution could withstand the will of the commons. Fox
commenced the trial by moving the order of the day for the committee on
the state of the nation. This motion was carried, but it was only by a
majority of thirty-nine against ministers, and imputations were thrown
out that the support given them was obtained by unfair means. Still
Fox and his party consoled themselves with the idea that Pitt would
be hurled from his eminence in a few hours. The contest was therefore
continued. The house having resolved itself into a committee, Fox moved
a resolution, declaring "the payment of any public money for services
voted in the present session, after parliament should be prorogued or
dissolved, if such events should take place before an act should have
passed appropriating supplies to such services, to be a high crime and
misdemeanor." This was carried without a division, and, following up his
attack, Fox moved and carried, in the same manner, another resolution,
deferring the second reading of the Mutiny Bill till the 23rd of
February. Fox now paused, and Lord Surrey stood forward, in order to
strike a more decisive blow. He moved, "That, in the opinion of the
committee it was peculiarly necessary that, in the present situation of
his majesty's dominions, there should be an administration which has
the confidence of this house and the public." This resolution was also
carried without a division; and Lord Surrey then moved, "That it was the
opinion of the committee that the late changes in his majesty's councils
were immediately preceded