ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 
touch Bonaparte’s_heart, we could bring comparatively- httie 
pressure to bear, upon France. It was not till he tried his 
worst against Great Britain and found that he could not hope to 
deal her any serious blow, that the First Consul evinced any 
real desire for peace. Meanwhile he hoped to retain his new 
conquest of Egypt, and to bring to the aid of the shattered 
navies of France and Spain the fresh naval resources of the 
Baltic powers. 
It was not under the guidance of William Pitt, whose 
unswerving hand had hitherto directed the foreign policy of 
, . Great Britain, that the last year of the Revolu- 
Eon tionary war was destined to be fought out. 
Early in 1801 he resigned his office, on a question 
which, important enough in itself, was yet but a side issue in 
this time of stress and peril. While negotiating the details of 
the Union with Ireland, he had pledged his word to the Irish 
Catholies to introduce in the new United Parliament legislation 
for the relief of their many_political_disabilities. "This he was 
preparing to do, ‘when he found that the old king was deter- 
mined to put his veto on any such action, Of the many deep- 
rooted prejudices of George III. none was more violent than 
his dislike for Romanists, and he had contrived to persuade 
himself that to give his assent to such a bill as Pitt was drafting 
would involve him in a breach of his Coronation Oath, “ to 
defend the Protestant Church as by law established.” When 
informed of the king’s resolve, Pitt resigned (February, 1801) : 
his exaggerated sense of loyalty to his old master prevented 
him from forcing matters to the point of actual conflict between 
king and ministry. He has been much censured, both for 
leaving the helm of state when the foreign danger was still 
so great, and for refusing to bring stronger pressure on the 
king, who, in spite of his obstinacy, might have yielded at the 
actual moment of friction, 
With Pitt some of his personal friends retired from office, 
but the Tories still retained their hold on the government, and