How Should History remember Pitt?

Context  War with revolutionary France drew Pitt’s attention away from domestic matters and there were few great domestic reforms in his First ministry  Pitt’s first 10 years arguably placed Britain in a much better position to fight the prolonged wars especially the consolidation of national finance and the reorganisation of the navy  In 1801 Pitt resigned after falling out with George III over Catholic Emancipation

The Irish Problem  One of the last major problems Pitt faced was a rebellion against British rule by Irish Catholics in 1798…. Worse still the rebellion was supported and part funded by revolutionary France  Pitt’s response was to first crush the rebellion by force and then make formal the links between Ireland and Britain by Act of Union 1801 creating a United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland – Pitt attempted to win over catholic opinion in Ireland to this scheme by promising Catholic Emancipation (civil rights for Catholics across the new UK)  George III refused to countenance such a move and Pitt resigned over the issue in the Act of Union however went ahead with no concessions to catholic opinion

Pitt’s Second Ministry  Pitt was replaced as PM by Henry Addington but within 3 years was invited back to head up a coalition government including the Whigs.  In this he failed – this time George III refused to allow the Whig Fox to be inside his government  Pitt in the mean time was in declining health and was to die in 1806  Pitt was succeeded as Prime Minister by his first cousin William Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville, who headed the Ministry of All the Talents, a coalition which this time included Charles James Fox.

Historians and Pitt  Historian Charles Petrie concludes that he was one of the greatest prime ministers "if on no other ground than that he enabled the country to pass from the old order to the new without any violent upheaval....He understood the new Britain." Derek Jarrett praises Pitt’s ability to manage the expectations of the King and suggests that Pitt’s achievement was to allow the King to believe he himself was leading the government when in fact real power had shifted to the PM  William Wilberforce said that, "For personal purity, disinterestedness and love of this country, I have never known his kind”  Historian Asa Briggs described him as “too solitary, too colourless, and too often exuded superiority”  Irish catholic historians have criticised the crushing of the Irish rebellion and the failure to deliver promised rights for Catholics