The  real  reason  why  Pitt  resigned  was  that  the  nation,
sick  of  a  war  which  had  more  than  doubled  the  National
Debt,^  and  had  only  aggrandized  France,  wanted  peace,  and
Pitt  was  too  proud  to  make  terms  with  Bonaparte.  As  for
Emancipation  he  cared  nothing.  With  his  full  assent,  his
personal  friend  Addington  became  Prime  Minister — a  man
with  the  same  character  of  intellect  as  the  King  and  just
as  bigoted.  Instead  of  opposing,  Pitt  supported  Addington's
measures  ;  he  never  raised  a  finger  to  help  the  Catholics,  nor
uttered  a  word  to  give  them  hope  ;  ^  and  when  the  peace  with
France,  which  came  with  the  Treaty  of  Amiens,  was  broken
and  the  terrible  struggle  was  renewed,  he  brushed  Addington
aside  with  contempt  and  assumed  the  reins  of  power.  In  1801
George  III.  had  one  of  his  intermittent  fits  of  insanity,  and
when  he  recovered  blamed  Pitt  and  the  Catholics  for  his
illness;  and  now  (1804)  Pitt  returned  to  power,  pledged
never  again  to  raise  the  Catholic  question,  whether  in  or
out  of  office,  during  the  lifetime  of  the  King.  Assuredly
those  were  right  who  said  he  was  only  deceiving  the  Catholics,
and  that  he  would  return  to  power  leaving  them  in  the  lurch.
But  the  Catholics,  it  might  be  said,  had  their  revenge,  for
Pitt's  days  were  numbered,  and  those  days  were  wrapped  in
gloom.  His  subserviency  to  the  King's  prejudices  lost  him  the
1   Plowden,  i.  6.  2  Ashbourne's  Pitt,  p.  305.
