The other passages of most importance in Mr. Pitt’s political life, before the French Revolution, were his decided support of the impeachment of Warren Hastings, though without going the whole length of Mr. Burke and other opposition members, in 1786, and the conclusion of a commercial treaty with France on a more liberal footing than had yet been contemplated by the countries; the successful opposition which he made to the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, in 1787, notwithstanding the support he had received from the Dissenters a few years before; his conduct on the Regency Bill, in opposition to the ill-advised assertion of Mr. Fox, that the Prince of Wales was entitled as a matter of right to the full possession of the powers of royalty, as sole Regent, in 1788–9; and his support of the abolition of the Slave Trade, for which he spoke and voted, but without making it a ministerial question. Indeed, in consequence of Mr. Wilberforce’s illness, Pitt was the first to bring that national disgrace and crime under the notice of the house, and he exerted his best eloquence in favour of its immediate abolition, and against the temporising course which was adopted. It does not appear that in the beginning of the French Revolution Mr. Pitt anticipated any bad consequences to Great Britain, or that he expected or wished to be led into that protracted war, which, though ultimately triumphant, involved us in imminent danger, enormous expense, and a debt still pressing us to the ground. At least, in opening his budget in 1792, he spoke with more than usual confidence of the favourable prospects of the revenue, and prognosticated many years of peace. At the same time he was already impressed with suspicion and fear of those in England who regarded with complacency the dawning of the Revolution; and in the same session he declared himself opposed to the introduction of Mr. Grey’s motion for reform in parliament, on the express ground that men’s minds were in a state of fermentation, which rendered any innovation inexpedient and dangerous. But the events of the summer and autumn changed Mr. Pitt’s views more widely. After the deposition of Louis XVI., on the 10th of August, the British minister at Paris was recalled; and as soon as the news of that unhappy sovereign’s death reached England, the French minister in London was ordered to quit the kingdom. War was declared by France, February 1, 1793. We do not attempt to compress the history of that eventful period into these pages. The policy of our government was to make the sea the scene of our chief exertions, and our fleets were victorious in every quarter of the globe. By land the conduct of the war was most unsuccessful. We were indeed cautious of risking our own troops on the continent; but the national wealth was profusely spent in subsidizing other nations, in combining alliances against France, which one after another proved