Young as he was, and victorious as he had become, he was never tempted to presume upon his genius, or relax in his application.  He allowed himself but little holiday.  He spent a good deal of such time as he could spare at Holwood, a property he had bought near Bromley; and occasional visits to Brighton, and to his mother’s residence at Burton Pynsent, in Somersetshire, made up the greater part of his travels.

II.—­The Regency Problem

Not only had Pitt’s administration rehabilitated English finances; it had gained for England a strong measure of European support.  In 1788 there was concluded what was virtually a triple defensive alliance with Prussia and Holland; and with France herself, should she be willing to remain at peace, there was a treaty of commerce to engage her in more friendly relations.

But towards the end of the year Pitt was confronted with what seemed a certainty of loss of office.  King George III., after a long period of ill health, was found to be definitely suffering from mental alienation.  A regency became necessary, and the person clearly marked out for the office was the Prince of Wales.  But the prince was the political associate of Fox, and there was no doubt that his first step on accession to power would be the dismissal of Pitt.

Pitt saw the prospect before him, and did not attempt to shirk it.  But he did propose certain restrictions on the regency in order that the king, should he recover his reason, might without difficulty resume his power.

When parliament assembled in December, Fox declared boldly that the prince had as much right to assume sovereignty during the king’s incapacity as he would have in the event of the king’s death.  Pitt, exulting in his rival’s indiscreet departure from Whig principles, retorted that the assertion of such a right, independent of the decision of the two houses, was little less than treason to the constitution.  Fox’s attitude was unpopular, and Pitt’s resolutions, and the Regency Bill that followed, were carried through the Commons.

Towards the end of February, the third reading of the Regency Bill was impending in the Lords.  Pitt had proposed that the difficulty about procuring the royal assent to the measure should be overcome by empowering the chancellor by a joint vote of both houses to put the Great Seal to a commission for giving the assent.  But this expedient was unnecessary.  By February 22 the king was completely recovered.  The Regency Bill fell to the ground, and all the hopes which the Opposition had reared upon it.

The day of thanksgiving for the king’s recovery is regarded by Lord Macaulay as the zenith in Pitt’s political life.  “To such a height of power and glory,” he says, “had this extraordinary man risen at twenty-nine years of age.  And now,” he adds, perhaps less justly, “the tide was on the turn.”

III.—­The Struggle with France

Pitt was able to declare, in the session that preceded the dissolution of 1790, that “we are adding daily to our strength, wealth, and prosperity,” and, as a result of the elections, his parliamentary majority was more than confirmed.