Pitt indeed had already lost his earlier
reforming zeal. The shadow of the French struggle had already fallen
across his path, and had already shaken his early faith in freedom and
progress. But if Pitt had been left alone he might still have done
justice. It was George III. that lost us the soul of Ireland, as he
lost us both the body and soul of North America.
There were, indeed, moments in those difficult days when the British
people seemed to realise dimly the wisdom of what Burke saw to be the
wisest British fighting policy--the policy of rallying Catholic
Ireland against revolutionary France. There was, for instance, the
mission of Lord Fitzwilliam in 1795--a Whig mission extorted from Pitt
against his will, due to a Parliamentary complication, and backed from
London with but half-hearted support. That famous mission which sent
through Ireland such a strange, sad thrill of hope, soon closed in mist
and darkness. Lord Fitzwilliam went to Ireland, as many Englishmen have
gone since, with the intention of doing justice. He was thwarted, like
most others, by the resistance of the local Ascendancy Party, fighting
doggedly for the remnants of its power.
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