young William Pitt who was one day to be Prime Minister-hastened to carry him away. In a few days he died.

8. The End of the War.-If Chatham had been living, and had been ruling England, he could not have stopped the Independence of America. Fighting went on, and Spain joined France and America. At last an English army, under Lord Cornwallis, was

shut up in Yorktown. The Americans hemmed it in on the land side, and a French fleet blocked it up by sea. Cornwallis was forced to surrender. When the bad news reached England in 1782, every one knew that it was no use to struggle longer. Lord North gave up his office, and Rockingham again became Prime Minister. Besides giving offices to his own followers, he gave some to the chief men amongst

Chatham's followers, of whom the principal was Lord Shelburne. Before peace was made Admiral Rodney gained a great victory over the French by sea, and a large French and Spanish fleet, which was trying to take Gibraltar, had to give up the attempt in despair. Before Gibraltar was freed Rockingham died, and the king named Shelburne to succeed him. Shelburne made arrangements for peace, though the actual treaty was not signed till after he had left office. In 1783 the Independence of America was acknowledged in the treaty.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

FROM THE END OF THE AMERICAN WAR TO THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.

(1783-1789.)

1. Shelburne turned out of Office.-Lord Shelburne did not remain Prime Minister long. The friends of Rockingham in the ministry did not like him, and they thought that the king had no right to choose the Prime Minister. Their leader, now that Rockingham was dead, was Charles James Fox, who was one of the ministers under Lord Shelburne. Fox was a great orator, and the most amiable of men. He had, however, quarrelled with Shelburne, and he and his friends resigned their posts rather than hold office under him. They were no sooner out of office than they wanted to get back again, and though they were Whigs they actually went so far

as to make an agreement with the Tory North and his friends to attack Shelburne. All through the American War Fox had been speaking all kinds of evil of North, so that the friendship which was thus suddenly made was not likely to be respected. The two parties, however, which were led by Fox and North had together more votes in the House of Commons than the party led by Shelburne. They therefore succeeded in turning him out, and a new ministry was formed which is known as the Coalition Ministry, because Fox's friends coalesced, or joined together, with those of North.

2. The Contest between Pitt and the Coalition Ministry. The Coalition Ministry did not last long. It proposed a law about the government of India which offended a great many people, and the king turned it out of office. The king appointed young William Pitt, the son of Chatham, to be Prime Minister. No one so young as he was had ever been Prime Minister before. He was only twenty-four. Fox and North had many more votes in the House of Commons than he had, and the House voted that he ought to resign. He told them that he would not, unless they could show that he had done something wrong. Week after week the numbers who voted for him grew more, and the numbers who voted against him grew less. There were at that time a large number of members of Parliament who would vote for anybody who was likely to remain in office, because they expected to get offices for themselves and their friends, which would bring them money, and they did not care the least whether the

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thing for which they voted was right or wrong. These men began to think that Pitt was likely to win; and one reason why they thought this was because people who were not members of Parliament had begun to take an interest in him. Quiet people, who did not care much about politics, thought that the friendship between men who had not long ago been quarrelling, as Fox and North had quarrelled, could not possibly have been formed in order to do good to any one but themselves. At last Pitt advised the king to dissolve Parliament. A new Parliament was elected, in which Pitt had the greater number of the members on his side.

3. Pitt and Public Opinion. This support, given by the voters to the young minister, was a thing which could not have happened thirty years before. The feeling of those people who cared about politics had been just as strong in favour of Chatham at the beginning of the Seven Years' War as it was now in favour of Chatham's son. But Chatham had found that he could not keep office unless he made friends with Newcastle, and got the votes for which Newcastle paid. The reason was because a great many more people cared about politics in Pitt's time than had cared about them in Chatham's time. One cause of this was, that just before the American War broke out the House of Commons allowed the speeches made by its members to be printed in newspapers, and in this way many people began to take an interest in politics who had taken no interest before. There were also more people who were well off from taking part in trade, and who did not like to see the

Government of England managed by a few great noblemen and their friends. A great many of the country gentlemen, too, took the side of Pitt and the king. The country gentlemen were much better fitted to take part in politics than they had been in the days of Walpole. Those who remained at home then had been very ignorant, and those who became members of Parliament usually only thought of what they could get for their votes. Now they were better educated, read more, thought more, and were more anxious to do their duty. The party which Pitt led was called the Tory party, because it was the party which thought that the Prime Minister ought to be chosen by the king.

4. The Proposed Reform Bill and the Commercial Treaty with France.-Pitt wished to make a good many wise reforms, some of which became law, though some were rejected by the House of Commons. He proposed a Reform Bill, that is to say, a Bill for allowing many more persons to vote at the election of members of Parliament than before, but the House of Commons would not allow this Bill to pass. He was more successful in making a treaty with France, by which goods were to be allowed to come from one country to the other without being subjected to very high duties. Up to that time nations had been in the habit of thinking that they were hurt if they bought goods made by another nation more cheaply than they could make them themselves. A great man, Adam Smith, had written a book called the 'Wealth of Nations,' to show that this was a mistake. Pitt had learned the lesson from him, and he now per