[Sidenote: William Pitt the Younger]
Such reform seemed less likely of accomplishment by Fox than by a
younger statesman, William Pitt (1759-1806), second son of the famous
earl of Chatham. When but seven years old, Pitt had said: "I want to
speak in the House of Commons like papa." Throughout his boyhood and
youth he had kept this ambition constantly before him; he had studied,
practiced oratory, and learned the arts of debate. At the age of
twenty-one, he was a tall, slender, and sickly youth, with sonorous
voice, devouring ambition, and sublime self-confidence. He secured a
seat in the Commons as one of Sir James Lowther's "ninepins," and
speedily won the respect of the House. He was the youngest and most
promising of the politicians of the day. At the outset he was a Whig.
[Sidenote: The "New Tories"]
By a combination of circumstances young Pitt was enabled to form an
essentially new political party--the "New Tories." By his scrupulous
honesty and earnest advocacy of parliamentary reform, he won to his
side the unrepresented bourgeoisie and the opponents of "bossism.
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