William Pitt the Younger

William Pitt was the second son of William Pitt, 1st earl of Chatham. In December 1783, King George III took the opportunity to dismiss the coalition and asked the 24-year-old Pitt to form a government. When Parliament reassembled in January 1784, the government was at once defeated by 39 votes on a virtual motion of censure, but Pitt refused to resign, and gradually the coalition's majority in Parliament began to crumble. By March 8 the majority against him was one vote, and on March 25 Parliament was dissolved. In 1788 he signed the Triple Alliance between Britain, Prussia, and Holland, thereby ensuring that in a future war his country would not be bereft of allies as it had been during the American Revolution. In 1790 he demonstrated Britain's renewed power and prestige by negotiating a peace between Austria and Turkey. In 1784, he passed his own India Act, creating a board of control regulating Indian affairs and the East India Company. Finally, in 1791 the Canada Constitutional Act was passed. London became responsible for the government of both Lower and Upper Canada, but both provinces were given representative assemblies.