Life of
WILLIAM PITT.
BY 
Lord Macaulay.
Preceded by the Life of
The Earl of Chatham.
NEW YORK:
DELISSER  AND PROCTER,
Succeffors to Stanford & Swords,
508 BROADWAY.








EDITOR'S PREFACE.
This volume of the Household Library
contains a Life of the elder Pitt, by a writer
in the Encyclopedia Britannica, who signs
himself J. B -e; and a Life of the younger Pitt, by Lord Macaulay.  The former is
brief, and is here used as a suitable introduction to the latter.
The Pitts cannot be ranked among heroes
of any kind; yet their lives are peculiarly
interesting, inasmuch as they are intimately
connected with an important and eventful
period of English history.  "The situation
of Pitt [Earl of Chatham] at the close
of the reign of George the Second," says
Macaulay, "was the most enviable ever oc



4        Editor's Preface.
cupied by any public man in England. He
had conciliated the King; he domineered
over the House of Commons; he was adored
by the people; he was admired by all
Europe.  He was the first Englishman of
his time; and he made England the first
country in the world.  The great Commoner-the name by which he was often
designated-might look down with scorn on
coronets and garters. The nation was drunk
with joy and pride...." " A few years sufficed to change the whole aspect of affairs.
A  nation convulsed by faction, a throne
assailed by the fiercest invective, a House
of Commons hated and despised by the nation, England set against Scotland, Britain
set against America, a rival legislature sitting beyond the Atlantic, English blood
shed by English bayonets, our armies capitu.
lating, our conquests wrested from us, our
enemies hastening to take vengeance for past
humiliation, our flag scarcely able to maintain itself in our own seas-such was the
spectacle Pitt lived to see."




Editor's Preface.             5
The aspect of the world was changed during the long ministry of the younger Pitt.
The name itself is associated with political
revolutions.  The fugitive Bourbons, the
downfall of French  aristocracy, Jacobin
clubs, guillotines, floods of blood in the
streets of Paris; the breaking up of le Germanic empire; the vanishing republic of
Holland; the sundering of the old Helvetian League; the peremptory dissolution of
the great Council of Venice; the founding
of a new republic on the Western Continent,
where ideas of political freedom-fugitives
from the Old World to the New-seemed
to find an asylum; fresh creations on both
sides of the ocean,-here Washington, there
Napoleon,-here democracy, there an empire
-here States uniting in representative government, there a confederation of the Rhine;
great parliamentary struggles, and splendid
political victories and defeats; the gathering  of armies and intrigues of courts;
Franklin  and  Talleyrand; life-and-death
conflicts between kings and peoples: all




6        Editor's Preface.
these things, and many more, are recalled at
the bare mention of the Earl of Chatham
and his more illustrious son.
We have given a sketch of Lord Macaulay's life, in another volume of the Household Library (Frederick the Great), and
yieed not repeat it here.  His Life of Pitt is
a fresh production, written expressly for the
Encyclopedia Britannica, and has been reprinted from  an early copy.  The article
has already produced a sensation in England; many who are not subscribers to the
Encyclopedia will doubtless be glad to obtain it in a convenient and attractive form.
O. W. WIGHT.
March, 1859.




PITT, EARL OF CHATHAM.
WILLIAM PITT, first Earl of Chatham,
a celebrated British statesman  and
orator, was born on the 15th of November, 1708. He was the youngest
son of Mr. Robert Pitt of Boconnock
in Cornwall, the grandson of Mr. Thomas Pitt, governor of Fort St. George
in the East Indies in the rein of Queen
Anne, who sold an extraordinary diamond to the King of France for ~135,000, and thus obtained the name of
Diamond Pitt. The subject of this
notice was educated at Eton, whence,
in January, 1726, he was removed to
Trinity College, Oxford, which he entered as a gentleman commoner. Here




8    Pitt, Earl of Chatham.
the superiority of his mind soon attracted notice, and he was also remarked for
his powers of elocution; but at the age
of sixteen he experienced the first attacks of an hereditary and incurable
gout, which continued at intervals to
torment him during the remainder of
his life. He quitted the university
without taking a degree, and visited
France and Italy, whence he returned
without having received much benefit
from  his excursion.  His father was
now  dead, and as he had left very
little to the younger children, it became
necessary that William should choose a
profession. He decided for the army,
and a cornet's commission was purchased for him  in the Blues. But,
small as his fortune was, his family had
the power and the inclination to serve
him   At the general election of 1734,
his elder brother Thomas was chosen
both for Old Sarum and for Oakhamp



Pitt, Earl of Chathamn.   9
ton. When parliament met in 1735,
Thomas made his election for Oakhampton, and William  was returned
for Old Sarum. At the time when he
obtained a e    n   reiamnt he was
not quite'years of age.
The intention of bringing him  thus
early into parliament was to oppose
Sir Robert Walpole, who had now been
fourteen years at the head of affairs.
In fact, his abilities soon attracted
notice, and he spoke with great vehemence against the Spanish convention
in 1738. It was on the occasion of the
bill for registering seamen, in 1740,
which he opposed as arbitrary and unjustifiable, that he is said to have made
his celebrated reply to Walpole, who
had taunted him  on account of his
youth; but the language of that reply,
as it now stands, is not the diction of
Pitt, who may have said something
like what is ascribed to him, but of




10   Pitt, Earl of Chatham.
Dr. Johnson, who then reported, or
rather wrote, the debates for the Gerntleman's MJagazine. In 1746 Pitt was
appointed joint vice-treasurer of Ireland; and in the.-same ^yQar treasurer
and paymaster-generalm? the army,
and a privy councillor. The office of
paymaster he discharged with such
inflexible integrity, even refusing many
of the ordinary perquisites of office,
that his bitterest enemies could lay
nothing to his charge, and he soon
became the darling of the people. The
old Duchess of Marlborough, who carried to the grave the reputation of
being decidedly the best hater of her
time, and who most cordially detested
Walpole and his associates, left Pitt a
legacy of ~10,000, in consideration of
"the noble defence he had made for
the support of the laws of England,
and to prevent the ruin of his country."
In the year 1755, Pitt, deeming it ne



Pitt,.Earl of Chatham.  11
cessary to offer a strong opposition to
the continental connections then formed
by the ministry, resigned his places,
and remained some time out of office.
But his resignation having alarmed the
people, he'was, in December, 1756,
called to fill a higher office, and ap
pointed secretary of state. In this situation, however, he was more successful in obtaining the confidence of the
public than in conciliating the favor of
the King, some of whose predilections
he had conceived himself bound to oppose. The consequence was, that soon
afterwards Pitt was removed from
office, whilst Legge, with some others
of his friends, were at the same time
dismissed. But the nation had a mind
not to be deprived of his services. The
most exalted notion had been formed
of him throughout the country; his
patriotism was believed to be as pure
and disinterested as his abilities and




12  Pitt, Earl of Chatham.
eloquence were confessedly transcendent; and his colleagues shared in the
same general favor. In a word, the
opinion of the country was so strongly
expressed, both directly and indirectly,
that the King thought it prudent to
yield; and on the 25th of June, 1IT7,
Pitt was again appointed secretary of
state, Legge became chancellor of the
exchequer, and the other arrangements
were made conformably to his wishes.
Pitt was now in effect prime minister;
and the change which soon took place
in the aspect of public affairs evinced
the ability of his measures, and the
vigor of his administration. Iis spirit
animated the whole nation, and his
activity pervaded every department of"
the public service. His plans were
ably conceived and promptly executed;
and the depression which had been
occasioned by want of energy in the
cabinet, and ill success in the field, was




Pitt, Earl of Chatham.   13
followed by exertion, confidence, and
triumph. The whole fortune of the
war was changed. In every quarter
of the globe success attended our arms.
The boldest attempts were made, both
by land and by sea, and almost every
attempt proved fortunate. In America
the French lost Quebec; in Africa
they were deprived of their principal
settlements; their power was abridged
in the East Indies; in Europe their
armies were defeated; and, to render
their humiliation more complete, their
navy, their commerce, and their finances were almost ruined. Amidst this
full tide of success George II. died, on
the 25th of October, 1760, and was
succeeded by George III., who ascended the throne at a time when the
French court had just succeeded in
obtaining the co-operation of Spain.
The treaty commonly called " family
compact" had been secretly concluded




14  Pitt, Earl of Chatham.
but the English minister, correctly informed of the hostile intentions of Spain,
determined to anticipate that power,
and strike a blow before this new enemy should be fully prepared for action.
Ite therefore proposed in the council an
immediate declaration of war against
Spain, urging forcibly that the present
was the favorable moment for hunmbling the whole Iouse of Bourbon.
But when he stated this opinion in
the privy council, the other ministers,
averse to so bold a measure, opposed
the proposition of the premier, alleging
the necessity of mature deliberation before declaring war against so powerful
a state. Irritated by the unexpected
opposition of his colleagues, Pitt replied, "I will not give them leave to
think; this is the time; let us crush the
whole House of Bourbon. But if the
members of this board are of a different opinion, this is the last time I shall




Pitt, Earl of Chathaim.   15
ever mix in its councils.  I was called
into the ministry by the voice of the
people, and to them I hold myself answerable for my conduct.  I am to
thank the ministers of the late king for
their support; I have served my country with success; but I will not be responsible for the conduct of the war
any longer than while I have the direction of it."  To this declaration the
president of the council answered,   I
find the gentleman is determined to
leave us; nor can I say that I am sorry
for it, since he would otherwise have
certainly compelled us to leave him.
But if he is resolved to assume the
right of advising his Majesty, and directing the operations of the war, to
what purpose are we called to this
council? When he talks of being responsible to the people, hle talks the
language of' the House of Commlons,
and forgets that at this board ]he is re



16   Pitt, Earl of Chat ham.
sponsible only to the King.  Iowever,
though he may possibly have convinced
hiim-self of his infallibility, still it remains that we should be equally convinced before we can resign our understandings to his direction, or join with
him in the measure he proposes." The
opposition he thus encountered the nation attributed to the growing influence
of Lord Bute.  But however this may
have been, Pitt was a man of too high,
not to say imperious a temper, to remain as the nominal. head of a cabinet
which he was no longer able to direct.
Accordingly, on the 5th of October,
1761, he resigned all his appointments;
and, as some reward for his services, hlis
wife was created Baroness Chatllam
in her own right, whilst a pension of
~3000 a year was settled on the lives of
himself, his lady, and his eldest son.
No fallen minister, if fallen be could
be called, ever carried witlh him more




Pitt, Earl of Chatham.  17
completely the confidence and regret of
the nation, whose affairs he had so successfully administered.  But at this
time the King was also popular; and
the war being continued by his new
ministers with vigor and success, no
discontent appeared until after the conclusion of the peace.  The impulse
given by Pitt had carried them forward
in the same direction which he had
pursued; but they were equally inca
pable of profiting by the advantages
which had been already gained, or of
prosecuting the war until the objects
for which it was originally undertaken
should be accomplished. The victories
gained over France and Spain having
greatly elated the nation, the feeling
which  almost universally  prevailed
amongst the people was, that we should
either dictate peace as conquerors, or
continue the war until our adversaries
were more effectually humbled. This
L _ -   -   _ _ _ _ _ _ _




18   Pitt, Earl of Chath am.
was likewise Pitt's opinion. Accordingly, when the preliminaries of peace
came to be discussed in parliament, he
went down to the House of Commolns
though suffering severely from an attack of gout, and spoke for nearly three
hours in the debate, giving his opinion
on each article of the treaty in succession, and, upon the whole, maintaining
that it was inadequate to the conquests
of our arms, and the just expectations
of the country. Peace was, however,
concluded on the 10th of February,
1763, and Pitt continued unemployed..After his resignation in 1761, Pitt
conducted himself in a maner worthy
of his high character. So far from
giving a vexatious and undiscriminating opposition to the ministry which
had succeeded his own, he maintained
his popularity in dignified retirement,
and came forward only when questions
of great inportance were to be dis



Pitt, Earl of Chatham.   19
cussed. One of these occurred in 1764,
on the subject of general warrants, the
illegality of which he denounced with
all the energy and vigor of his eloquence.  Another occasion, when he
came forward in all his strength, was
the consideration of the discontents
which had arisen on account of the
Stamp Act.  In March 1766, the repeal of that act having been proposed
by the  Rockingham  ministry, Pitt,
though not connected with them, ably
supported the measure, which was carried, but whether prudently or the contrary is still a matter of dispute. About
this time Pitt had devised to him by will
a considerable estate in Somersetshire,
the property of Sir William Pynsent of
Burton-Pynsent in that county, who,
from admiration of his public character,
disinherited his own relations, in order
to bequeath to him the bulk of his fortune.  After the dissolution of the




20   Pitt, Earl of Chatham.
Rockingham ministry, a new administration was formed, and in 1766 Pitt
was appointed lord privy seal. At the
samne time he was created a peer by the
titles of Viscount Pitt of Burton-Pynsent, in the county of Somerset, and
Earl of Chatham, in the  county of
Kent.
Whatever might be his motives in
accepting a peerage, it is certain that
it proved very prejudicial to his character, and that in consequence he sank
as much in popularity as he rose in
nominal dignity.  The "great commoner," as he was sometimes called,
had formed a rank for himself, on the
basis of his talents and exertions, which
titular honors might obscure, but could
not illustrate; and, with the example
of Pulteney before him, he should have
been careful to preserve it untarnished
by empty distinctions, shared by the
mean and the worthless Es well as by




Pitt, Earl of Chatham.   21
the great, the gifted, and the good.
Lord Chatham, however, did not long
continue in office after being elevated
to the peerage.  On the 2d of Novenmber, 1768, he resigned the place of lord
privy seal, and never afterwards held
any public employment; nor does he
appear to have been at all desirous of
returning to office.  I-e was now sixty,
and the gout, by which he had so long
been afflicted, disabled him, by its frequent and violent attacks, for close and
regular application to business.  In
the intervals of his disorder, however,
he failed not to exert himself upon
questions of great magnitude; and in
1775, 1776, and 1777, he most strenuously opposed the measures pursued by
the ministers in the contest with America. His last appearance in the House
of Lords was on the 2d of April, 1778.
lie was then very ill, and much debilitated; but the question was impor



22   Pitt, Earl of Chatham.
tant, being a motion of the Duke of
Richmond to address his Majesty to remove the ministers, and to make peace
with America on any terms. His lordship made a long speech, in which he
summoned up all his remaining strength
to pour out his disapprobation of a
measure so inglorious. But the effort
overcame him, for in attempting to rise
a second time, he fell down in a convulsive fit; and though he recovered
for the time, his disorder continued to
increase until the 11th of May, when
he expired at his seat at Hayes. Iis
death was lamented as a national loss.
As soon as the news reached the House
of Commons, which was then sitting,
Colonel Barre made a motion, that an
address should be presented  to his
Majesty, requesting that the Earl of
Chatham should be buried at the public expense. But Mr. Rigby having
proposed the erection of a statue to his




Pitt, Earl of Chatham.   23
memory, as more likely to perpetuate
the sense of his great merits entertained
by the public, this was unanimously
agreed to. A bill was soon afterwards
passed, by which ~4000 a year was
settled upon John, now Earl of Chatham, and the heirs of the late earl to
whom  that title might descend.  IHis
lordship was married in 1754 to Lady
Hester, sister of Earl Temple, by whom
he had three sons and two daughters.
The principal outlines of Pitt's character have been variously sketched,
sometimes with, and sometimes without, any depth of shadow. The truth
is, that there scarcely ever lived a person who had less claim to be painted altogether en beau, or who so little merited
unsparing censure.  Lord  Macaulay
says, " That he was a great man, cannot
for a moment be doubted; but his was
not a complete and well-proportioned




24   Pitt, Earl of Chatham.
greatness. The public life of Hampden
or of Somers resembles a regular drama,
which can be criticised as a whole, and
every scene of which is to be viewed
in connection with the main action.
The public life of Pitt, on the other
hand, is a rude though striking piece,
abounding in incongruities, and without any unity of plan, but redeemed by
some noble passages, the effect of which
is increased by the tameness or extravagance of what precedes and of what
follows. His opinions were unfixed;
and his conduct, at some of the most
important conjunctures of his life, was
evidently determined by pride and resentment. He had one fault, which of
all human faults is most rarely found in;
company with true greatness. He was
extremely affected. Ie was an almost
solitary instance of a man of real genius, and of a brave, lofty, and commanding spirit, without simplicity of




Pitt, Earl of Chatham.   25
character. He was an actor in the
closet, an actor in the council, and an
actor in parliament; and even in private society he could not lay aside his
theatrical tones and attitudes. \ We
know that one of the most distinguished
of his partisans often complained that
he could never obtain admittance to
Lord Chatham's room  till every thing
was ready for the representation; till
the light was thrown with Rembrandtlike effect on the head of the illustrious
performer; till the flannels had been
arranged with the air of Grecian drapery, and the crutch placed as gracefully as that of Belisarius or Lear."j
Yet, with all his faults and affectations,
he possessed, in a very extraordinary
degree, many of the elements of true
greatness.  He had splendid talents,
strong passions, quick sensibility, and
vehement enthusiasm for the grand and
the beautiful.  There was something




26  Pitt, Earl of Chatham.
about him which ennobled even tergiversation  itself.  He  often  went
wrong, very far wrong; but, amidst
the abasement of error, he still retained what he had received from nature, "an intense and glowing mind."
In an age of low and despicable prostitution, the age of Dodington and
Sandys, it was something to have a
man who might perhaps, under some
strong excitement, have been tempted
to ruin his country, but who never
would have stooped to pilfer from her;
a man whose errors arose, not from a
sordid desire of gain, but from a fierce
thirst for power, glory, and vengeance.'"History owes him this attestation,
that, at a time when any thing short of
direct embezzlement of the public
money was considered as quite fair in
public men, he showed the most scrupulous disinterestedness; that, at a
time when it seemed to be generally




Pitt, Earl of Chatham.  27
taken for granted  that government
could be upheld only by the basest and
most immoral arts, he appealed to the
better and nobler parts of human nature; that he made a brave and splendid attempt to do, by means of public
opinion, what no other statesman of his
day thought it possible to do except by
means of corruption; that he looked
for support, not, like the Pelhams, to a
strong aristocratical connection, not,
like Bute, to the personal favor of the
sovereign, but to the middle class of
Englishmen; that he inspired  that
class with a firm confidence in his integrity and ability; that, backed by
them, he forced an unwilling court and
an unwilling oligarchy to admit him to
an ample share of power; and that he
used his power in such a manner as
clearly proved that he had sought it,
not for the sake of profit or patronage,
but from a wish to establish for himself




28  Pitt, Earl of Chatham.
a great and durable reputation, by
means of eminent services rendered to
the state."
A great many unmeaning phrases
have been employed, and much rhetorical exaggeration has been expended,
in attempts to characterize Lord Chatham's style of eloquence.  The following estimate by Lord Macaulay,
from whom we have borrowed some of
the foregoing observations, is at once
deep, discriminating, and brilliant.
" In our time the audience of a member of parliament is the nation. The
three or four hundred persons who may
be present when a speech is delivered
may be pleased or disgusted by the
voice and action of the orator; but in
the reports which are read the next
day by hundreds of thousands, the difference between the noblest and the
meanest figure, between the richest and
the shrillest tones, between the most




Pitt, Earl of Chathamn.  29
graceful and the most uncouth gesture,
altogether vanishes. A hundred years
ago, scarcely any report of what passed
within the walls of the House of Commons was suffered to get abroad. In
those times, therefore, the impression
which a speaker might make on the
persons who actually heard him was
every thing. The impression out of
doors was hardly worth a thought. In
the parliaments of that time, therefore,
as in the ancient commonwealths, those
qualifications which enhance the immediate efforts of a speech, were far
more important ingredients in the composition of an orator than they would
appear to be in our time. All those
qualifications Pitt possessed in the
highest degree. On the stage, he would
have been the finest Brutus or Coriolanus ever seen. Those who saw him
in his decay, when his health was
broken, when his mind was jangled,




30  Pitt, Earl of Chatham.
when he had been removed from that
stormy assembly of which he thoroughly
knew the temper, and over which he
possessed unbounded influence, to a
small, a torpid, and an unfriendly audience, say that his speaking was then
for the most part a low monotonous
muttering, audible only to those who
sat close to him; that, when violently
excited, he sometimes raised his voice
for a few minutes, but that it soon sank
again into an unintelligible murmur.
Such was the Earl of Chatham; but
such was not William Pitt. His figure,
when he first appeared in parliament,
was strikingly graceful and commanding, his features high and noble, his
eye full of fire. Iis voice, even when
it sank to a whisper, was heard to the
remotest benches; when he strained it
to its full extent, the sound rose like
the swell of the organ of a great cathedral, shook the house with its peal, and




Pitt, Earl of Chatham.   31
was heard through lobbies and down
staircases, to the Court of Requests and
the precincts of Westminster Hall. He
cultivated all these eminent advantages
with the most assiduous care. His action is described, by a very malignant
observer, as equal to that of Garrick.
His play of countenance was wonderful; he frequently disconcerted a hostile orator by a single glance of indignation or scorn. Every tone, from the
impassioned cry to the thrilling aside,
was perfectly at his command. It is
by no means improbable that the pains
which he took to improve his great
personal advantages, had  in  some
respects a prejudicial operation, and
tended to nourish in him that passion
for theatrical effect which was one of
the most conspicuous blemishes in his
character.
"But it was not solely or principally
to outward accomplishments that Pitt




32  Pitt, Earl of Chatham.
owed the vast influence which, during
nearly thirty years, he exercised over
the House of Commons. He was undoubtedly a great orator; and from the
descriptions of his contemporaries, and
the fragments of his speeches which
still remain, it is not difficult to discover
the nature and extent of his oratorical
powers.
" I-e was no speaker of set speeches,*
His few prepared discourses were complete failures. The elaborate panegyric
which he pronounced on General Wolfe
was considered as the very worst of all
his performances.'No man,' says a
critic who had often heard him,'ever
knew  so little what he was going to
say.'  Indeed, his facility amounted
to a vice; he was not the master, but
the slave of his own speech. So little
self-command had he when once he felt
the impulse, that he did not like to take
part in a debate when his mind was




Pitt, Earl of Chatham.   33
full of an important secret of state.' I
must sit still,' he once said to Lord
Shelburne on such an occasion,'for
when once I am up, every thing that is
in my mind comes out.'
"Yet he was not a great debater.
That he should not have been so when
he first entered the House of Commons,
is not strange; scarcely any person
has ever become so without long practice and many failures. It was by slow
degrees, as Burke said, that Mr. Fox
became the most brilliant and powerful
debater that parliament ever saw. Mr.
Fox himself attributed his own success
to the resolution which he formed when
very young, of speaking, well or ill, at
least once every night.'During five
whole sessions,' he used to say,'I
spoke every night but one; and I regret only that I did not speak that
night too.'  Indeed, it would be difficult to name any great debater who has
3




34   Pitt, Earl of Chatham.
not made himself a master of his art at
the expense of his audience.
" But as this art is one which even the
ablest men have seldom acquired without long practice, so it is one which
men of respectable abilities, with assiduous and intrepid practice, seldom
fail to acquire. It is singular that, in
such an art, Pitt, a mall of splendid
talents, great fluency, and dauntless
boldness, whose whole life was passed
in parliamentary conflicts, and who
during several years was the leading
minister of the Crown in the House of
Commons, should never have attained
to high excellence. He spoke without
premeditation; but his speech followed
the course of his own thoughts, and not
that of the previous discussion.  He
could, indeed, treasure up in his me.
mory some detached expression of a
hostile orator, and make it the text for
sparkling ridicule or burning invective.




Pitt, Earl of Chatham.   35
Some of the most celebrated bursts of
his eloquence were called forth by an
unguarded word, a laugh, or a cheer.
But this was the only sort of reply in
which he appears to have excelled. He
was perhaps the only great English
orator who did not think it an advantage to have the last word, and who
generally spoke by choice before his
most formidable opponents. His merit
was almost entirely rhetorical. HIe did
not succeed either in exposition or refutation; but his speeches abounded
with lively illustrations, striking apothegms, well-told  anecdotes, happy
allusions, passionate appeals. His in-,ective and sarcasm were tremendous.
Perhaps no English orator was ever so
much feared.
" But that which gave most effect to
his declamation was the air of sincerity,
of vehement feeling, or moral elevation,
which belonged to all that he said. His




36   Pitt, Earl of Chatham.
style was not always in the purest
taste.  Several contemporary judges
pronounced it too florid. Walpole, in
the midst of the rapturous eulogy which
he pronounces on one of Pitt's greatest
orations, owns that some of the metaphors were too forced. The quotations
and classical stories of the orator are
sometimes too trite for a clever schoolboy. But these were niceties for which
the audience cared little. The enthusiasm of the orator infected all who
were near him; his ardor and his noble
bearing put fire into the most frigid
conceit, and gave dignity to the most
puerile allusion."
Such is the character of this great
statesman and orator, as drawn by one
masterly hand. It may perhaps both
instruct and interest our readers if we
present another, delineated by an artist
equally distinguished for the vigor,
judgment, and fidelity with which he




Pitt, Earl of Chatham.  37
paints such grand pieces for the gallery
of history. The preceding, as we have
already said, is from the pen of Lord
Maacaulay; the following is understood
to be from that of Lord Brougham:
"The first place among the great
qualities which distinguished Lord
Chatham is unquestionably due to firmness of purpose, resolute determination
in the pursuit of his objects. This was
the characteristic of the younger Brutus, as he said, who had spared his life
to fall by his hland-Qudicqid vult, id
valde vult; and although extremely
apt to be shown in excess, it must be
admitted to be the foundation of all
true  greatness of character.  Every
thing, however, depends upon the endowments in whose company  it is
found; and in Lord Chatham these were
of a very high order. The quickness
with which he could ascertain his object, and discover his road to it, was




38   Pitt, Earl of Chatham.
fully commensurate with his perseverance and his boldness in pursuing it;
the firmness of grasp with which he
held his advantage was fully equalled
by the rapidity of the glance with
which he discovered it. Add to this
a mind eminently fertile in resources,
a courage which nothing could daunt
in the choice of his means, a resolution
equally indomitable in their application, a genius, in short, original and daring, which bounded over the petty obstacles raised by ordinary men-their
squeamishness, and their precedents,
and their forms, and their regularities
-and forced away its path through the
entanglements of this base undergrowth
to the worthy object ever in his view,
the prosperity and the renown of his
country. Far superior to the paltry
objects of a grovelling ambition, and
regardless alike of party and of personal considerations, he constantly set




Pitt, Earl of Chatham.   39
before his eyes the highest duty of a
public man, to further the interests of
his species. In pursuing his course
towards that goal, he disregarded alike
the frowns of power and the gales of
popular applause; exposed himself undaunted to the vengeance of the court,
while he battled against its corruptions, and confronted, unabashed, the
rudest shocks of public indignation,
while he resisted the dictates of pernicious agitators; and could conscientiously exclaim, with  an  illustrious
statesman of antiquity,' Ego hoc animo semper fui ut invidiam virtute partam, gloriam non invidium putarem.'
"Nothing could be more entangled
than the foreign policy of this country at
the time when he took the supreme direction of her affairs; nothing could be
more disastrous than the aspect of her
fortunes in every quarter of the globe.
With a single ally in Europe, the King




40   Pitt, Earl of Chatham.
of Prussia, and him beset by a combination of all the continental powers in
unnatural union to effect his destrnclion; with an army of insignificant
amount, and commanded by men only
desirous of grasping at the emoluments,
without doing the duties or incurring
the risks of their profession: with a
navy that could hardly keep the sea,
and whose chiefs vied with their comrades on shore in earning the character
given them by the new minister, of being utterly unfit to be trusted in any
enterprise accompanied with' the least
appearance of danger;' with a generally prevailing dislike of both services,
which at once repressed all desire ofj oining either, and damped all public spirit
in the country, by extinguishing all hope
of success, and even all love of glory;
it was hardly possible for a nation to be
placed in circumstances more inauspicious to military exertions; and yet




Pitt, Earl of Chatham.   41
war raged in every quarter of the world
where our dominion extended, while the
territories of our only ally, as well as
those of our own sovereign in Germany,
were invaded by France, and her forces
by sea and land menaced our shores.
In the distant possessions of the Crown
the same want of enterprise and of spirit
prevailed.  Armies in the West were
paralyzed by the inaction of a captain
who would hardly take the pains to
write a despatch recording the nonentity of his operations; and in the East,
while friglltful disasters were brought
upon our settlements by  barbarian
powers, the only military capacity that
appeared in their defence was the accidental display of genius and valor by
a merchant's clerk, who thus raised
himself to celebrity (Mr., afterwards
Lord, Clive). In this forlorn state of
affairs, rendering it as impossible to
think of peace as it seemed hopeless to




42'Pitt, Earl of Chatham.
continue the yet inevitable war, the
base and sordid views of politicians
kept pace with the mean spirit of the
military caste; and parties were split
or united, not upon any difference or
agreement of public principle, but upon mere questions of patronage and'share in the public spoil, while  all
seemed alike actuated by one only passion, the thirst alternately of power
and of gain.
"As soon as Mr. Pitt took the helm,
the steadiness of the hand that held it
came to be felt in every motion of the
vessel. There was no more of wavering councils, of torpid inaction, of listless expectancy, of abject despondency.
His firmness gave confidence, his spirit
roused courage, his vigilance secured
exertion, in every department under his
sway. Each man, from the first lord
of the Admiralty down to the most
humble clerk in the victualling office




Pitt, Earl of Chatham.  43
-each soldier, from the commanderin-chief to the most obscure contractor
or commissary-now felt assured that
he was acting or indolent under the
eye of one who knew his duties and
his means as well as his own, and who
would very certainly make all defaulters, whether through misfeasance or
through nonfeasance, accountable for
whatever detriment the commonwealth
might sustain at their hands. Over
his immediate coadjutors his influence
swiftly obtained an ascendent which it
ever after retained uninterrupted. Upon his first proposition for changing
the conduct of the war he stood single
among his colleagues, and tendered his
resignation should they persist in their
dissent; they at once succumbed, and
from that hour ceased to have an opinion of their own upon any branch of
the public affairs. Nay, so absolutely
was he determined to have the control




44   Pitt, Earl of Chatham.
of those measures of which he knew
the responsibility rested upon him
alone, that he insisted upon the first
lord of the Admiralty not having the
correspondence of his own department;
and no less eminent a naval character
than Lord Anson, with his junior lords,
were obliged to sign the orders issued
by Mr. Pitt while the writing was covered over fiom their eves.
"The effects of this change in the
whole management of the public business, and in all the plans of the government, as well as in their execution,
were speedily made manifest to all the
world. The German troops were sent
home, and  a well-regulated militia
being established to defend the country, a large disposable force was distributed over the various points whence
the enemy might be annoyed. France,
attacked on some points, and menaced
on others, was compelled to retire from




Pitt, Earl of Chatham.   45
Germany, soon afterwards suffered the
most disastrous defeats, and, instead of
threatening England  and  her allies
with invasion, had to defend herself
against attack, suffering severely in
several of her most important naval
stations.:No less than sixteen islands,
and settlements, and fortresses of importance, were  taken  from  her in
America, and Asia, and Africa, including all her West Indian colonies except St. Domingo, and all her settlements in the East. The whole important province of Canada was likewise
conquered, and the Havana was taken from Spain. Besides this, the seas
were swept clear of the fleets that had
so lately been insulting all our colonies, and even all our coasts. Many
general actions were fought and gained; one among them the most decisive
that had ever been fought by our navy.
Thirty-six sail of the line were taken




46   Pitt, Earl of Chatham.
or destroyed, fifty frigates, forty-five
sloops of war. So brilliant a course
of uninterrupted success had never
in modern times attended the arms of
any nation carrying on war with other
states equal to it in civilization, and
nearly a match in power. But it is a
more glorious feature in the unexampled administration which history
has to record, when it adds, that all
public distress had disappeared; all
discontent in any quarter, both of the
colonies and parent state, had ceased;
that no oppression was anywhere practised, no abuse suffered to prevail;
that no encroachments were made upon
the rights of the subject, no malversation] tolerated in the possessors of
power; and that England, for the first
time and for the last time, presented
the astonishing picture of a nation supporting without murmur a widely extended and costly war, and a people




Pitt, Earl of Chatham.  47
hitherto torn with conflicting parties so
united in the service of the commonwealth, that the voice of faction had
ceased in the land, and any discordant
whisper was heard no more.'These,'
said the son  of his first and most
formidable adversary, Walpole, when
informing  his correspondent abroad
that the session, as usual, had ended
without any kind of opposition, or even
of debate,-'these are the doings of
Mr. Pitt, and they are wondrous in our
eyes.'
"To genius irregularity is incident,
and the greatest genius is often marked
by eccentricity, as if it disdained to
move in the vulgar orbit. Hence he
who is fitted by his nature, and trained
by his habits, to be an accomplished'pilot in extremity,' and whose inclinations carry him forth to seek the deep
when the waves run high, may be
found, if not'to  steer too near the




48   Pitt, Earl of Chatham.
shore,' yet to despise the sunken rocks
which they that can only be trusted in
calm weather would have more surely
avoided. To this rule it cannot be
said that Lord Chatham afforded any
exception; and, although a plot had
certainly been formed to eject him
from the ministry, leaving the chief
control of affairs in the feeble hands
of Lord Bute, whose only support was
court favor, and whose only talent lay
in an expertness at intrigue, yet there
can be little doubt that this scheme
was only rendered practicable by the
hostility which the great minister's
unbending habits, his contempt of ordinary men, and his neglect of everyday matters, had raised against him
among all the creatures both of Downing Street and St. James's. In fact his
colleagues, who necessarily felt humbled by his superiority, were needlessly
mortified by the constant display of it;




Pitt, Earl of Chathamn.  49
and it would have betokened a still
higher reach of understanding, as well
as a purer fabric of patriotism, if he
whose great capacity threw those subordinates into. the shade, and before
whose vigor in action they were suffi-.
ciently willing to yield, had united a
little suavity in his demeanor with his
extraordinary  powers, nor made it
always necessary for them to acknowledge as well as to feel their inferiority.
It is certain that the insulting arrangement of the Admiralty to which reference has been already made, while it
lowered that department in the public
opinion, rendered all connected with
him his personal enemies; and, indeed,
though there have since his days been
prime ministers whom he would never
have suffered to sit even as puny lords
at his boards, yet were one like himself
again to govern the country, the Admiralty chief, who might be far inferior
4




50  Pitt, Earl of Chatham.
to Lord Anson, would never submit to
the humiliation inflicted upon that gallant and skilful captain. Mr. Pitt's
policy seemed formed upon the assumption that either each public functionary was equal to himself in boldness,
activity, and resource, or that he was
to preside over and animate each department in person; and his confidence
was such in his own powers that he
reversed  the maxim  of governing,
never to force your way where you can
win it, and always disdained to insinuate where he could dash in, or to persuade where he could command. It
thus happened that his colleagues were
but nominally coadjutors, and though
they durst not thwart him, yet rendered
no heart-service to aid his schemes.
Indeed, it has clearly appeared since
his time that they were chiefly induced
to yield him implicit obedience, and
leave the undivided direction of all




Pitt, Earl of Chatham.  51
operations in his hands, by the expectation that the failure of what they
were wont to sneer at as'Mr. Pitt's
visions,' would turn the tide of public
opinion against him, and prepare his
downfall from a height of which they
felt that there was no one but himself
able to dispossess him."
The same powerful writer, having
thus sketched  the character of the
statesman, proceeds next to delineate
that of the orator, as far as this can now
be done from the extremely scanty and
imperfect materials which have been
preserved. The fame of Lord Chatham's eloquence is, in truth, almost
wholly traditional.
"There is, indeed, hardly any eloquence, of ancient or of modern times,
of which so little that can be relied on
as authentic has been preserved; unless
perhaps that of Pericles, Julius Caesar,
and Lord Bolingbroke. Of the actions




52  Pitt, Earl of Chatham.
of the two first we have sufficient records, as we have of Lord Chatham's;
of their speeches we have little that
can be regarded as genuine; although,
by unquestionable tradition, we know
that each of them was second only to
the greatest orator of their respective
countries; while of Bolingbroke we
only know, from Dean Swift, that he
was the most accomplished speaker of
his time; and it is related of Mr. Pitt
(the younger), that when the conversation rolled upon lost works, and some
said they should prefer restoring the
books of Livy, some of Tacitus, and
some a Latin tragedy, he at once decided for a speech of Bolingbroke.
What we know of his own father's oratory is much more to be gleaned from
contemporary panegyrics, and accounts
of its effects, than from the scanty, and
for the most part doubtful, remains
which have reached us.




Pitt, Earl of Chatham.  53
"All accounts, however, concur in
representing those effects to have been
prodigious. The spirit and vehemence
which animated its greater passages,
their perfect application to the subjectmatter of debate, the appositeness of
his invective to the individual assailed,
the boldness of the feats which he ventured upon, the grandeur of the ideas
which he unfolded, the heart-stirring
nature of his appeals, are all confessed
by the united testimony of all his contemporaries; and the fragments which
remain bear out to a considerable extent
such representations; nor are we likely
to be misled by those fragments, for
the more striking portions were certainly the ones least likely to be either
forgotten  or fabricated.   To  these
mighty attractions was added the imposing, the animating, the commanding
power of a countenance singularly expressive; an eye so piercing that hardly




54   Pitt, Earl of Chatham.
any one could stand its glare; and a
manner altogether singularly striking,
original, and characteristic, notwithstanding a peculiarly defective and
even awkward action. Latterly, indeed,
his infirmities precluded all action;
and he is described as standing in the
Iouse of Lords, leaning upon his crutch,
and speaking for ten minutes together
in an under-tone of voice scarcely audible, but raising his notes to their full
pitch when he broke out into one of
his grand bursts of invective or exclamation. But in his earlier time, his
whole manner is represented as having
been beyond conception animated and
imposing.  Indeed, the things which
he effected by it principally, or at least
which nothing but a most striking and
commanding tone could have made it
possible to attempt, almost exceed
belief.  Some of these sallies are indeed examples of that approach made




Pitt, Earl of Chatham.  55
to the ludicrous by the sublime, which
has been charged upon him as a prevailing fault, and represented under
the name of charlatanerie,-a favorite
phrase with his adversaries, as it in
later times has been with the ignorant
undervaluers of Lord Erskine. It is
related that once in the House of
Commons he began a speech with
the words,' Sugar, Mr. Speaker,'-and
then, observing a smile to prevail in
the audience, he paused, looking fiercely
around, and with a loud voice, rising
in its notes, and swelling into vehement
anger, he is said to have pronounced
again the word'Sugar!' three times,
-and having thus quelled the house,
and extinguished every appearance of
levity or laughter, turned round, and
disdainfully asked,' Who will laugh
at sugar now' We have this anecdote
on good traditional authority; that it
was believed by those who had the




56   Pitt, Earl of Chatham.
best means of knowing Lord Chatham,
is certain; and this of itself shows their
sense of the extraordinary powers of his
manner, and the reach of his audacity
in trusting to those powers.
"There can be no doubt that of
reasoning,-of sustained and close argument,-his speeches had but little.
His statements were desultory though
striking, perhaps not very distinct, certainly not all detailed, and as certainly
every way inferior to those of his celebrated son. If he did not reason cogently, he assuredly did not compress
his matter vigorously.  He was any
thing rather than a concise or a short
speaker; not that his great passages
were at all diffuse, or in the least degree loaded with superfluous words;
but he was prolix in the whole texture
of his discourse, and he was certainly
the first who introduced into our senate
the practice, adopted in the American




Pitt, Earl of Chatham.  57
war by Mr. Burke, and continued by
others, of long speeches,-speeches of
two and three hours, by which oratory
has gained little and business less. His
discourse was, however, fully informed
with matter-his allusions to analogous
subjects, and his reference to the history
of past events, were frequent-his expression of his own opinions was copious
and free, and stood very generally in
the place of any elaborate reasoning in
their support. A noble statement of
enlarged views, a generous avowal of
dignified  sentiments, a manly  and
somewhat severe contempt for all petty
or mean views, whether their baseness
proceeded from narrow understanding
or from corrupt bias, always pervaded
his whole discourse; and, more than
any other orator since Demosthenes, he
was distinguished by the nobleness of
feeling with which he regarded, and
the amplitude of survey which he cast




58  Pitt, Earl of Chatham.
upon, the subject-matters of debate.
His invective was unsparing and hard
to be endured, although he was a less
eminent master of sarcasm than his son,
and rather overwhelmed his antagonist
with the burst of words and vehement
indignation, than wounded him by the
edge of ridicule, or tortured him with
the gall of bitter scorn, or fixed his
arrow in the wound by the barb of
epigram.  These things seemed as it
were to betoken too much labor and
too much art; more labor than was
consistent with absolute scorn, niore
art than could stand with heartfelt rage,
or entire contempt inspired by the occasion, at the moment and on the spot.
But his great passages,-those by which
he has come down to us, those which
gave his eloquence its peculiar character, and to which its dazzling success
was owing,-were as sudden and unexpected as they were natural. Every




Pitt, Earl of Chatham.   59
one was taken by surprise when they
rolled forth; every one felt them to be
so natural that he could hardly understand why he had not thought of them
himself, although into no one's imagination had they ever entered. If the
quality of being natural without being
obvious is a pretty correct description
of felicitous expression, or what is called
fine writing, it is a yet more accurate
representation of fine passages or felicitous hits in speaking. In these all
popular assemblies take boundless delight; by these, above all others, are
the minds of an audience at pleasure
moved or controlled. They form the
grand charm of Lord Chatham's oratory; they were the distinguishing excellence of his great predecessor, and
gave him at will to wield the fierce
democracy of Athens, and to fulmine
over Greece."
Many years ago, a small volume was




60  Pitt, Earl of Chatham.
published by Lord Grenville, containing letters written by the Earl of Chatham to his nephew Thomas Pitt, Lord
Camelford. They are replete with ex
cellent advice, conveyed in an easy,
affectionate, and not inelegant style,
having all of them been penned evidently without effort, under the simple
impulse of the kindly feelings and
anxious interest which they manifest
throughout. At the same time, they
might have been written by a person
vastly inferior to Lord Chatham; and
indeed one can scarcely avoid surprise
at the absence of every trace of that
genius, power, and originality for which
the writer was so greatly distinguished.
Almon, the bookseller, has written
Anecdotes of the Life of the Earl of
Chatham, 3 vols. 8vo.; the Rev. Mr.
Thackeray has illustrated the subject
more accurately, as well as fully, in his
History of the Earl of Chatham, 2 vols.




Pitt, Earl of Chatham.   61
4to.  None of his own writings have
been given to the world, except a small
volume of letters to the son of his elder
brother, afterwards Lord Camelford,
published some years ago by Lord
Grenville; and his Correspondence, il
4 vols. 8vo., 1838-40. The Correspondence illustrates very fully his life and
character, and furnishes valuable materials for the political history of his
time. His wife, who died in 1803, bore
him  three  sons and two daughters.
The second son, the subject of the next
article, gained a political fame capable of rivalling that of his illustrious
father.








WILLIAM  PITT.
WILLIAM PITT, the second son of William  Pitt, Earl of Chatham, and of
Lady Iester Grenville, daughter of
Hester, Countess Temple, was born on
the 28th of May, 1759. The child inherited a name which, at the time of
his birth, was the most illustrious in
the civilized world, and was pronounced
by every Englishman with pride, and by
every enemy of ]ngland with mingled
admiration and terror.  During the
first year of his life, every month had
its illuminations and bonfires, and every
wind brought some messenger charged
with joyful tidings and hostile stand



64        William Pitt.
ards. In Westphalia the English infaitry won a great battle which arrested the armies of Louis the Fifteenth
in the midst of a career of conquest:
Boscawen defeated one French fleet on
the coast of Portugal: Hawke put to
flight another in the Bay of Biscay:
Johnson took Niagara: Amherst took
Ticonderoga: Wolfe died by the most
enviable of deaths under the walls of
Quebec: Clive destroyed a Dutch armament in the Hoogley, and established the English supremacy in Bengal:
Coote routed Lally at Wandewash, and
established the English supremacy in
the Carnatic. The nation, while loudly applauding the successful warriors,
considered them all, on sea and on land,
in Europe, in America, and in Asia,
merely as instruments which received
their direction from one superior mind.
It was the great William Pitt, the great
commoner, who had vanquished French




William Pitt.          65
marshals in Germany, and French admirals on the Atlantic; who had conquered for his country one great empire on the frozen shores of Ontario,
and another under the tropical sun
near the mouths of the Ganges. It was
not in the nature of things that popularity such as he at this time enjoyed
should be permanent. That popularity
had lost its gloss before his children
were old enough to understand that
their father was a great man. He was
at length placed in situations in which
neither his talents for administration
nor his talents for debate appeared to
the best advantage. The energy and
decision which had eminently fitted
him  for the direction of war were
not needed in time of peace.  The
lofty  and  spirit-stirring  eloquence,
which had made him supreme in the
House of Commons, often fell dead on
the House of Lords. A cruel malady
5




66        William Pitt.
racked his joints, and left his joints
only to fall on his nerves and on his
brain. During the closing years of his
life, he was odious to the court, and yet
was not on cordial terms with the great
body of the opposition. Chatham was
only the ruin of Pitt, but an awful
and majestic ruin, not to be contemplated by any man of sense and feeling without emotions resembling those
which are excited by the remains of
the Parthenon and of the Coliseum.
In one respect the old statesman was
eminently happy. Whatever might be
the vicissitudes of his public life, he
never failed to find peace and love by
his own hearth. He loved all his children, and was loved by them; and, of
all his children, the one of whom he
was fondest and proudest was his second son.
The child's genius and ambition displayed themselves with a rare and al



William  Pitt.         67
most unnatural precocity.  At seven,
the interest which he took in grave
subjects, the ardor with which he pursued his studies, and the sense and vivacity of his remarks on books and on
events, amazed his parents and instructors. One of his sayings of this date
was reported to his mother by his tutor.
In August, 1776, when the world was
agitated by the news that Mr. Pitt had
become Earl of Chatham, little William
exclaimed, "I am glad that I am not
the eldest son. I want to speak in the
House of Commons like papa."  A
letter is extant in which Lady Chatham, a woman of considerable abilities,
remarked to her lord, that their younger
son at twelve had left far behind him
his elder brother, who was fifteen.
"The fineness," she wrote, "of William's mind, makes him enjoy with the
greatest pleasure what would be above
the reach of any other creature of his
~~"~ ~~~~~~~~~~L




68         William Pitt.
small age."  At fourteen the lad was
in intellect a man. Hayley, who met
him at Lyme in the summer of 1773,
was astonished, delighted, and somewhat overawed, by hearing wit and
wisdom from so young a mouth. The
poet, indeed, was afterwards sorry that
his shyness had prevented him from
submitting the plan of an extensive
literary work, which he was then meditating, to the judgment of this extraordinary boy. The boy, indeed, had
already written  a tragedy, bad  of
course, but not worse than the tragedies of his friend. This piece is still
preserved at Chevening, and is in some
respects highly curious. There is no
love. The whole plot is political; and
it is remarkable that the interest, such
as it is, turns on a contest about a regency. On one side is a faithful servant
of the Crown, on the other an ambitious and unprincipled conspirator. At
___ _____________




William Pitt.          69
length the King, who had been missing, reappears, resumes his power, and
rewards the faithful defender of his
rights. A  reader who should judge
only by internal evidence, would have
no hesitation in pronouncing that the
play  was written by  some Pittite
poetaster at the time of the rejoicings
for the recovery of George the Third
in 1789.
The pleasure with which William's
parents observed the rapid development of his intellectual powers was alloyed by apprehensions about his health.
He shot up alarmingly fast; he was
often ill, and always weak; and it was
feared that it would be impossible to
rear a stripling so tall, so slender, and
so feeble. Port wine was prescribed
by his medical advisers; and it is said
that he was, at fourteen, accustomed to
take this agreeable physic in quantities
which would, in our abstemious age, be




70        William Pitt.
thought much more than sufficient for
any full-grown man.  This regimen,
though it would probably have killed
ninety-nine boys out of a hundred,
seems to have been well suited to the
peculiarities of William's constitution;
for at fifteen he ceased to be molested
by disease, and, though never a strong
man, continued, during many years of
labor and anxiety, of nights passed in
debate and of summers passed in London, to be a tolerably healthy one. It
was probably on account of the delicacy of his frame that he was not educated like other boys of the same rank.
Almost all the eminent English statesmen and orators to whom he was afterwards opposed or allied,'North, Fox,
Shelburne, Windham, Grey, Wellesley,
Grenville, Sheridan, Canning, went
through the training of great public
schools. Lord Chatham  had himself
been a distinguished Etonian; and it




William Pitt.          71
is seldom that a distinguished Etonian
forgets his obligations to Eton. But
William's infirmities required a vigilance and tenderness such as could be
found only at home. He was therefore
bred uhder the paternal roof. His studies were superintended by a clergyman named Wilson; and those studies,
though often interrupted by illness,
were prosecuted with  extraordinary
success. Before the lad had completed
his fifteenth year,.his knowledge both
of the ancient languages and of mathematics was such as very few men of
eighteen then carried up to college.
lie was therefore sent, towards the
close of the year 1773, to Pembroke
Hall, in the university of Cambridge.
So young a student required much
more than the ordinary care which a
college tutor bestows on undergraduates. The governor, to whom the direction of William's academical life
1~~~~




72         William Pitt.
was confided, was a bachelor of arts
named Pretyman, who had been senior
wrangler in the preceding year, and
who, though not a man of prepossessing appearance or brilliant parts, was
eminently acute and laborious, a sound
scholar, and an excellent geometrician.
At Cambridge, Pretyman was, during
more than two years, the inseparable
companion, and indeed almost the only
companion, of his pupil. A close and
lasting friendship sprang up between
the pair. The disciple was able, before he completed his twenty-eighth
year, to make his preceptor bishop of
Lincoln and dean of St. Paul's; and
the preceptor showed his gratitude by
writing a Life of the disciple, which
enj oys the distinction of being the worst
biographical work of its size in the
world.
Pitt, till he graduated, had scarcely
one acquaintance, attended chapel reg



William  Pitt.          73
ularly  morning and  evening, dined
every day in hall, and never went to a
single evening party.  At seventeen,
he was admitted, after the bad fashion
of those times, by right of birth, without any examination, to the degree of
Master of Arts.  But he continued
during some years to reside at college,
and to apply himself vigorously, under
Pretyman's direction, to the studies of
the place, while mixing freely in the
best academic society.
The stock of learning which Pitt laid
in during this part of his life was certainly very extraordinary.  In fact, it
was all that he ever possessed; for he
very early became too busy to have
any spare time for books. The work
in which he took the greatest delight
was Newton's Principia.  His liking
for mathematics, indeed, amounted to
a passion, which, in the opinion of his
instructors, themselves distinguished




74        William Pitt.
mathematicians, required to be checked
rather than encouraged. The acuteness and readiness with which he solved
problems was pronounced by one of
the ablest of the moderators, who in
those days presided over the disputations in the schools, and conducted the
examinations of the Senate-House, to be
unrivalled in the university.:Nor was
the youth's proficiency  in  classical
learning less remarkable. In one respect, indeed, he appeared to disadvantage when  compared with  even
second-rate and third-rate men from
public schools. Ile had never, while
under Wilson's care, been in the habit
of composing in the ancient languages;
and he therefore never acquired that
knack of versification which is sometimes possessed by clever boys whose
knowledge of the language and literature of Greece and Rome is very superficial.  It would have been utterly
i_.    _ _ __




William Pitt.           75
out of his power to produce such charming elegiac lines as those in which
Wellesley bade farewell to Eton, or
such Virgilian hexameters as those in
which Canning described the pilgrimage to Mecca.  But it may be doubted
whether any scholar has ever, at twenty,
had a more solid and profound knowledge of the two great tongues of the
old civilized world. The facility with
which he penetrated the meaning of
he most intricate sentences in the Atlwriters astonished veteran critics.
had set his heart on being intiely acquainted with all the extant
y of Greece, and was not satisfied
fflil ad mastered Lycophron's Cassandra, the most obscure work in the
whole range of ancient literature. This
strange rhapsody, the difficulties of
which have perplexed  and repelled
many excellent scholars, "he read,"
says his preceptor, " with an ease at




716       William Pitt.
first, which, if I had not witnessed it, I
should have thought beyond the compass of human intellect."
To modern literature Pitt paid comparatively little attention. He knew
no living language except French; and
French  he knew  very  imperfectly.
With a few of the best English writers
he was intimate, particularly  with
Shakspeare and Milton. The debate
in Pandemonium  was, as it well deserved to be, one of his favorite passages; and his early friends used to t
long after his death, of the just
phasis and the melodious cadence
which they had heard him  recite t
incomparable speech of Belial.  He
had indeed been carefully trained from
infancy in the art of managing his
voice, a voice naturally clear and deeptoned. Iis father, whose oratory owed
no small part of its effect to that art,
had been a most skilful and judicious




tWilliam Pitt.          77
instructor. At a later period, the wits
of Brookes's, irritated by observing, 
night after night, how powerfully Pitt's
sonorous elocution fascinated the rows
of country gentlemen, reproached him
with having been " taught by his dad
on a stool."
His education, indeed, was well
adapted to form a great parliamentary
speaker.  One argument often urged
against those classical studies which
occupy so large a part of the early life
of.;every gentleman bred in the south
of:ur island is, that they prevent him
from  acquiring a command  of his
mother tongue, and that it is not unusual to meet with a youth of excellent
parts, who  writes Ciceronian Latin
prose and Horatian Latin Alcaics, but
who would find it impossible to express 
his thoughts in pure, perspicuous, and
forcible English. There may perhaps
be some truth in this observation. But




178       William Pitt.
the classical studies of Pitt were carried on in a peculiar manner, and had
the effect of enriching his English vocabulary, and of making him wonderfully expert in the art of constructing
correct English sentences. His practice was to look over a page or two of
a Greek or Latin author, to make himself master of the meaning, and then to
read the passage straight forward into
his own language. This practice, begun under his first teacher Wilson, was
continued under Pretyman. It is not
strange that a young man of great
abilities, who had been exercised daily
in this way during ten years, should
have acquired an  almost unrivalled
power of putting his thoughts, without
premeditation, into words well selected
and well arranged.
Of all the remains of antiquity, the
orations were those on which he bestowed' the most minute examination.




William Pitt.           79
IIis favorite employment was to compare harangues on opposite sides of the
same question, to analyze them, and to
observe which of the arguments of the
first speaker were refuted by the second, which were evaded, and which
were left untouched. Nor was it only
in books that lie at this time studied
the art of parliamentary fencing. When
he was at home, he had frequent opportunities of hearing important debates at Westminster; and he heard
them, not only with interest and enjoyment, but with a close scientific attention, resembling that with which a diligent pupil at Guy's Hospital watches
every turn of the hand of a great surgeon through a difficult operation.  On
one of these occasions, Pitt, a youth
whose abilities were as yet known only
to his own family and to a small knot
of college friends, was introduced on
the steps of the throne in the House of




80        William  Pitt.
Lords to Fox, who was his senior by
eleven years, and who was already the
greatest debater, and one of the greatest orators, that had appeared in England. Fox used afterwards to relate
that, as the discussion proceeded, Pitt
repeatedly turned to him, and said,
"But surely, Mr. Fox, that might be
met thus;" or, " Yes; but he lays himself open to this retort."  What the
particular criticisms were, Fox had forgotten; but he said that he was much
struck at the time by the precocity of
a lad who, through the whole sitting,
seemed to be thinking only how all the
speeches on both sides could be answered.
One of the young man's visits to the
House of Lords was a sad and memorable era in his life. He had not quite
completed his nineteenth year, when,
on the 7th of April, 1778, he attended
his father to Westminster. A great de



William Pitt.         81
bate was expected. It was known that
France had recognized the independence of the United States. The Duke
of Richmond was about to declare his
opinion that all thought of subjugating
those states ought to be relinquished.
Chatham had always maintained that
the resistance of the colonies to the
mother country was justifiable. But
he conceived, very erroneously, that on
the day on which their independence
should be acknowledged the greatness
of England would be  at an end.
Though sinking under the weight of
years and infirmities, he determined,
in spite of the entreaties of his family,
to be in his place. His son supported
him  to a seat. The excitement and
exertion were too much for the old
man. In the very act of addressing
the peers, he fell back in convulsions.
A few weeks later his corpse was borne,
with gloomy pomp, from the Painted
6




82        William Pitt.
Chamber to the Abbey. The favorite
child and namesake of the deceased
statesman followed the coffin as chief
mourner, and saw it deposited in the
transept where his own was destined
to lie.
His elder brother, now Earl of Chatham, had means sufficient, and barely
sufficient, to support the dignity of the
peerage. The other members of the
family were poorly provided for. William had little more than three hundred
a-year. It was necessary for him to
follow a profession. lie had already
begun to eat his terms. In the spring
of 1780 he came of age. He then
quitted Cambridge, was called to the
bar, took chambers in Lincoln's Inn,
and joined the western circuit. In the
autumn of that year a general election
took place; and he offered himself as
a candidate for the university; but he
was at the bottom of the poll. It is




William Pitt.          83
said that the grave doctors who then
sat, robed in scarlet, on the benches of
Golgotha, thought it great presumption
in so young a man to solicit so high a
distinction. He was, however, at the
request of a hereditary friend, the
Duke of Rutland, brought into parliament by Sir James Lowther for the
borough of Appleby.
The dangers of the country were at
that time such as might well have disturbed even a constant mind. Army
after army had been  sent in vain
against the rebellious colonists of North
America.  On pitched fields of battle
the advantage had been with the disciplined troops of the mother country.
But it was not on pitched fields of battle
that the event of such a contest could
be decided. An armed nation, with
hunger and the Atlantic for auxiliaries,
was not to be subjugated. Meanwhile,
the House of Bourbon, humbled to the




84       Tl1iam Pitt.
dust a few years before by the genius
and vigor of Chatham, had seized the
opportunity of revenge. France and
Spain were united against us, and had
recently been joined by Holland. The
command of the Mediterranean had
been for a time lost. The British flag
had been scarcely able to maintain itself in the British Channel. The northern powers professed neutrality; but
their neutrality had a menacing aspect.
In the East, Hyder had descended on
the Carnatic, had destroyed the little
army of Baillie, and had spread terror
even to the ramparts of Fort Saint
George. The discontents of Ireland
threatened nothing less than civil war.
In England the authority of the government had sunk to the lowest point.
The King and the House of Commons
were alike unpopular. The cry for
parliamentary reform was scarcely less
loud and vehement than in the autumn




William Pitt.          85
of 1830.  Formidable  associations,
headed, not by ordinary demagogues,
but by men of high rank, stainless
character, and distinguished ability, demanded a revision of the representative
system. The populace, emboldened by
the impotence and irresolution of the
government, had recently broken loose
from all restraint, besieged the chambers of the legislature, hustled peers,
hunted bishops, attacked the residences
of ambassadors, opened prisons, burned
and pulled down houses. London had
presented during some days the aspect
of a city taken by storm; and it had
been necessary to form a camp among
the trees of St. James's Park.
In spite of dangers and difficulties,
abroad and at home, George the Third,
with a firmness which had little affinity
with virtue or with wisdom, persisted
in his determination to put down the
American rebels by force of arms; and




86        William Pitt.
his ministers submitted their judgment
to his. Some of them were probably
actuated merely by selfish cupidity,
but their chief, Lord North, a man of
high honor, amiable temper, winning
manners, lively wit, and excellent talents both for business and for debate,
must be acquitted of all sordid motives.
He remained at a post fiom which he
had long wished and had repeatedly
tried to escape, only because he had not
sufficient fortitude to resist the entreaties and reproaches of the King, who silenced all arguments by passionately
asking whether any gentleman, any
man of spirit, could have the heart
to desert a kind master in the hour of
extremity.
The opposition consisted of two parties which had once been hostile to
each other, and which had been very
slowly, and, as it soon appeared, very
imperfectly reconciled, but which at




William Pitt.          87
this conjuncture seemed to act together with cordiality. The larger of
these parties consisted of the great
body of the Whig  aristocracy. Its
head was Charles, Marquis of Rockingham, a man of sense and virtue, and
in wealth and parliamentary interest
equalled by very few of the English
nobles, but afflicted with a nervous
timidity which prevented him  from
taking a prominent part in debate. In
the House of Commons the adherents
of Rockingham were led by Fox, whose
dissipated habits and ruined fortunes
were the talk of the whole town, but
whose commanding genius, and whose
sweet, generous, and affectionate disposition extorted the admiration and love
of those who most lamented the errors
of his private life. Burke, superior to
Fox in largeness of comprehension, in
extent of knowledge, and in splendor
of imagination, but less skilled in that




88        William Pitt.
kind of logic and in that kind of rhetoric which  convince  and persuade
great assemblies, was willing to be the
lieutenant of a young chief who might
have been his son.
A smaller section of the opposition
was composed of the old followers of
Chatham. At their head was William,
Earl of Shelburne, distinguished both
as a statesman and as a lover of science
and letters. With him were leagued
Lord Camden, who had formerly held
the great seal, and whose integrity,
ability, and constitutional knowledge
commanded the public respect; Barre,
an eloquent and acrimonious declaimer;
and Dunning, who had long held the
first place at the English bar. It was
to this party that Pitt was naturally
attracted.
On the 26th of February, 1781, he
made his first speech in favor of
Burke's plan of economical reform.




William  Pitt.         89
Fox stood up at the same moment, but
instantly gave way. The lofty  yet
animated deportment of the young
member, his perfect self-possession, the
readiness with which he replied to the
orators who had preceded him, the silver tones of his voice, the perfect structure of his unpremeditated sentences,
astonished and delighted his hearers.
Burke, moved even to tears, exclaimed,
" It is not a chip of the old block; it is
the old block itself." " Pitt will be one
of the first men in parliament," said a
member of the opposition to Fox. " He
is so already," answered Fox, in whose
nature envy had no place. It is a curious fact, well remembered by some
who were very recently living, that
soon after this debate Pitt's name was
put up by Fox at Brookes's.
On two subsequent occasions during
that session Pitt addressed the house,
and on both fully sustained the reputa



90        William Pitt.
tion which he had acquired on his first
appearance. In the summer, after the
prorogation, he again went the western
circuit, held several briefs, and acquitted himself in such a manner that he
was highly complimented by Buller
from the bench, and by Dunning at the
bar.
On the 27th of November the parliament reassembled. Only forty-eight
hours before had arrived tidings of the
surrender of Cornwallis and his army;
and it consequently became necessary
to rewrite the royal speech. Every
man in the kingdom, except the King,
was now convinced that it was mere
madness to think of conquering the
United States. In the debate on the
report of the address, Pitt spoke with
even more energy and brilliancy than
on any former occasion.  He was
warmly applauded by his allies; but
it was remarked that no person on his




William Pitt.          91
own side of the house was so loud in
eulogy as  Ienry Dundas, the Lord
Advocate of Scotland, who spoke from
the ministerial ranks. That able and
versatile politician distinctly foresaw
the approaching downfall of the government with which he was connected,
and was preparing to make his own
escape from the ruin. From that night
dates his connection with Pitt, a connection which soon became a close intimacy, and which lasted till it was dissolved by death.
About a fortnight later, Pitt spoke
in the committee of supply on the
army estimates. Symptoms of dissension had begun to appear on the trea
sury bench. Lord George Germaine,
the secretary of state, who was especially charged with the direction of the
war in America, had held language
not easily to be reconciled with declarations made by the first lord of the




92         William  Pitt.
treasury. Pitt noticed the discrepancy
with much force and keenness.  Lord
George and Lord North began to whisper together; and Welbore Ellis, an
ancient placeman, who had been drawing salary almost every quarter since
the days of Henry Pelham, bent down
between them to put in a word. Such interruptions sometimes discompose veteran speakers. Pitt stopped, and, looking at the group, said, with admirable
readiness, " I shall wait till Nestor has
composed the dispute between Agamemnon and Achilles."
After several defeats, or victories
hardly to be distinguished from defeats,
the ministry resigned. The King, reluctantly and ungraciously, consented
to accept Rockingham as first minister.
Fox and Shelburne became secretaries
of state. Lord John Cavendish, one of
the most upright and honorable of men,
was made chancellor of the exchequer.




William Pitt.         93
Thurlow, whose abilities and force of
character had made him  the dictator
of the House of Lords, continued to
hold the great seal.
To Pitt was offered, through Shelburne, the vice-treasurership of Ireland,
one of the easiest and most highly paid
places in the gift of the Crown; but the
offer was, without hesitation, declined.
The young statesman had resolved to
accept no post which did not entitle
him to a seat in the cabinet; and, a
few days later, he announced that res6lution in the House of Commons. It
must be remembered that the cabinet
was then a much smaller and more select body than at present. We have
seen cabinets of sixteen. In the time
of our grandfathers a cabinet of ten
or eleven was thought inconveniently
large. Seven was a usual number. Even
Burke, who had taken tile lucrative
office of paymaster, was not in the




94        William Pitt.
cabinet. Many therefore thought Pitt's
declaration indecent. lie himself was
sorry that he had made it. The words,
he said in private, had escaped him in
the heat of speaking; and he had no
sooner uttered them  than he would
have given the world to recall them.
They, however, did him no harm with
the public. The second William Pitt,
it was said, had shown that he had inherited the spirit as well as the genius
of the first. In the son, as in the father, there might perhaps be too much
pride; but there was nothing low or
sordid. It might be called arrogance
in a young barrister, living in chambers on three hundred a year, to refuse a
salary of five thousand a year, merely
because he did not choose to bind himself to speak or vote for plans which
he had no share in framing; but surely
such arrogance was not very far removed from virtue.




William Pitt.         95
Pitt gave a general support to the administration of Rockingham, but omitted, in the mean time, no opportunity
of courting that ultra-whig party which
the persecution of Wilkes and the Middlesex election had called into existence, and which the disastrous events
of war, and the triumph of republican principles in America, had made
formidable both in numbers and in
temper. He supported a motion for
shortening the duration of parliaments.
He made a motion for a committee to
examine into the state of the representation, and, in the speech by which that
motion was introduced, avowed himself the enemy of the close boroughs,
the strongholds of that corruption to
which he attributed all the calamities
of the nation, and which, as he phrased
it in one of those exact and sonorous
sentences of which he had a boundless
command, had grown with the growth




96        Wtilliam Pitt.
of England and strengthened with her
strength, but had not diminished with
her diminution, or decayed with her
decay. On this occasion he was supported by Fox. The motion was lost
by only twenty votes in a house of
more than three hundred members.
The reformers never again had so good
a division till the year 1831.
The new administration was strong
in abilities, and was more popular than
any administration which had held office since the first year of George the
Third, but was hated by the King, hesitatingly supported by the parliament,
and torn by internal dissensions. The
chancellor was disliked and distrusted
by almost all his colleagues. The two
secretares of state regarded each other
with no friendly feeling. The line between their departments had not been
traced with precision; and there were
consequently jealousies, encroachments




William Pitt.          97
and complaints. It was all that Rockingham could do to keep the peace in
his cabinet; and before the cabinet
had existed three months, Rockingham
died.
In an instant all was confusion. The
adherents of the deceased statesman
looked on the Duke of Portland as
their chief. The King placed Shelburne at the head of the treasury.
Fox, Lord John Cavendish, and Burke,
immediately resigned their offices; and
the new prime minister was left to constitute a government out of very defective materials. Iis own parliamentary
talents were great; but he could not be
in the place where parliamentary talents were most needed. It was necessary to find some member of the House
of Commons who could confront; the
great orators of the opposition; and
Pitt alone had the eloquence and the
courage which were required. tIe was




98        William Pitt.
offered the great place of chancellor
of the exchequer, and he accepted it.
He had scarcely completed his twentythird year.
The parliament was speedily prorogued. During the recess, a negotiation for peace which had been commenced under lockingham was brought
to a successful termination. England
acknowledged the independence of her
revolted colonies; and she ceded to
her European enemies some places in
the Mediterranean, and in the Gulf of
Mexico. But the terms which she obtained were quite as advantageous and
honorable as the events of the war entitled her to expect, or as she was likely to obtain by persevering in a contest
against immense odds. All her vital
parts, all the real sources of her power
remained uninjured. She preserved
even her dignity; for she ceded to the
House of Bourbon only part of what




William  Pitt.         99
she had won from that house in previous wars. She retained her Indian
empireundiminished; and, in spit6 of
the mightiest efforts of two great Inonarchies, her flag still waved on the rock
of Gibraltar. There is not the slightest
reason to believe that Fox, if he had
remained in office, would have hesitated one moment about concluding a
treaty on such conditions. Unhappily
that great and most amiable man was,
at this crisis, hurried by his passions
into an error which made his genius
and his virtues, during a long course
of years, almost useless to his country.
He saw that the great body of the
House of Commons was divided into
three parties, his own, that of North,
and that of Shelburne; that none of
those three parties was large enough to
stand alone; that, therefore, unless two
of them united, there must be a miserably feeble administration, or, more




100       W'illiam Pitt.
probably, a rapid succession of miserably feeble administrations, and this at
a time when a strong government was
essential to the prosperity and respectability of the nation. It was then necessary and right that there should be
a coalition. To every possible coalition there were objections. But, of all
possible coalitions, that to which there
were the fewest objections, was undoubtedly a coalition between Shelburne and Fox. It would have been
generally applauded by the followers
of both. It might have been made
without any sacrifice of public principle on the part of either. Unhappily,
recent bickerings had left in the mind
of Fox a profound dislike and distrust
of Shelburne. Pitt attempted to mediate, and was authorised to invite Fox
to return to the service of the Crown.
"Is Lord Shelburne," said Fox, "to
remain prime minister? " Pitt answer



William Pitt.         101
ed in the affirmative. " It is impossible
that I can act under him," said Fox.
"Then negotiation is at an end," said
Pitt; "for I cannot betray him." Thus
the two statesmen parted. They were
never again in a private room together.
As Fox and his fiiends would not
treat with Shelburne, nothing remained
to them but to treat with North. That
fatal coalition, which is emphatically
called "The Coalition," was formed.
Not three quarters of a year had elapsed since Fox and Burke had threatened
North with impeachment, and had described him, night after night, as the
most arbitrary, the most corrupt, the
most incapable of ministers. They now
allied themselves with him for the purpose of driving from office a statesman
with whom they cannot be said to have
differed as to any important question.
Nor'had they even the prudence and
the patience to wait for some occasion




102       William Pitt.
on which they might, without inconsistency, have combined  with their
old enemies in opposition to the government. That nothing might be wanting
to the scandal, the great orators who
had, during seven years, thundered
against the war, determined to join
with the authors of that war in passing
a vote of censure on the peace.
The parliament met before Christmas 1782. But it was not till January
1783 that the preliminary treaties were
signed. On the 17th of February they
were taken into consideration by the
House of Commons. There had been,
during some days, floating rumors that
Fox and North had coalesced; and the
debate indicated but too clearly that
those rumors were not unfounded. Pitt
was suffering from indisposition: he
did not rise till his own strength and
that of his hearers were exhausted; and
he was consequently less successful than




William Pitt.          103
on any former occasion. His admirers
owned that his speech was feeble and
petulant. He so far forgot himself as
to advise Sheridan to confine himself
to amusing theatrical audiences. This
ignoble sarcasm gave Sheridan an opportunity of retorting with great felicity.
" After what I have seen and heard tonight," he said, " I really feel strongly
tempted to venture on a competition
with so great an artist as Ben Jonson,
and to bring on the stage a second Angry Boy."  On a division, the address
proposed by the supporters of the government was rejected by a majority of
sixteen.
But Pitt was not a man to be disheartened b  asinglefii lre. or to be
put down by the most lively repartee.
When, a few days later, the opposition
proposed a resolution directly censuring
the treaties, he spoke with an eloquence,
energy, and dignity, which raised his




104        William Pitt.
fame and popularity higher than ever.
To the coalition of Fox and North lie
alluded in language which drew forth
tumultuous applause from his followers.
"If," he said, " this ill-omened and unnatural marriage be not yet consumnmated, I know of a just and lawful impediment; and, in the name of the
public weal, I forbid the banns."
The ministers were again left in a
minority, and Shelburne consequently
tendered his resignation. It was accepted: but the King struggled long
and hard before he submitted to the
terms dictated by Fox, whose faults he
detested, and whose high spirit and
powerful intellect he detested  still
lmore.  The first place at the board
of treasury was repeatedly offered to
Pitt: but the offer, though tempting,
was steadfastly declined.  The young
man, whose judgment was as precocious as his eloquence, saw  that his




William Pitt.         105
time was coming, but was not come,
and was deaf to royal importunities and
reproaches. His Majesty, bitterly complaining of Pitt's faintheartedness, tried
to break the coalition.  Every art of
seduction was practised on North, but
in vain.   During several weeks the
country remained without a government. It was not till all devices had
failed, and till the aspect of the House
of Commons became threatening, that
the King gave way. The Duke of Portland was declared first lord of the
treasury. Thurlow was dismissed. Fox
and North became secretaries of state,
with power ostensibly equal. But Fox
was the real prime minister.
The year was far advanced before
the new arrangements were completed;
and nothing very important was done
during the remainder of the session.
Pitt, now  seated  on  the opposition
bench, brought the question of parlia



106       William Pitt.
mentary reform a second time under
the consideration of the Commons. ie
proposed to add to the house at once a
hundred county members and several
members for metropolitan districts, and
to enact that every borough of which
an election committee should report
that the majority of voters appeared to
be corrupt, should lose the franchise.
The motion was rejected by 293 votes
to 149.
After the prorogation, Pitt visited
the Continent for the first and last time.
His travelling companion was one of
his most intimate friends, a young man
of his own age, who had already distinguished himself in parliament by
an engaging natural eloquence, set off
by the sweetest and most exquisitely
modulated of human voices, and whose
affectionate heart, caressing manners,
and brilliant wit, made him the most
delightful of companions, William Wil



William  Pitt.         107
berforce. That was the time of Anglomania in France; and at Paris the son
of the great Chatham was absolutely
hunted by men of letters and women
of fashion, and forced, much against his
will, into political disputation.  One
remarkable saying which droppedfrom
him during this tour has been preserved.  A French gentleman expressed
some surprise at the immense influence
which Fox, a mlan of pleasure, ruined
by the dice-box and the turf, exercised
over the English nation.  " You have
not," said Pitt, "been under the wand
of the magician."
In Novelnber 1783 the parliament
met again. The government had irresistible strength in the House of Commons, and seemed to be scarcely less
strong in the Iouse of Lords, but was,
in truth, surrounded on every side by
dangers. The King was impatiently
waiting for the moment at which he




108       William  Pitt.
could emancipate himself from a yoke
which galled him so severely, that he
had more than once seriously thought
of retiring to Hlanover; and the King
was scarcely more eager for a change
than the nation. Fox and North had
committed a fatal error.  They ought
to have known that coalitions between
parties which have long been hostile,
can succeed only when the wish for
coalition pervades the lower ranks of
both. If the leaders unite before there
is any disposition to union among the
followers, the probability is that there
will be a mutiny in both camps, and
that the two revolted armies will make
a truce with each other, in order to be
revenged on those by whom they think
that they have been betrayed. Thus it
was in 1783. At the beginning of that
eventful year, North had been the recognized head of the old Tory party,
which, though for a moment prostrated




William Pitt.         109
by the disastrous issue of the American
war, was still a great power in the
state. To him the clergy, the universities, and that large body of country
gentlemen  whose rallying  cry was
"Church and King," had long looked
up with respect and confidence. Fox
had, on the other hand, been the idol
of the Whigs, and of the whole body of
Protestant dissenters. The coalition at
once alienated the most zealous Tories
from  North, and the most zealous
Whigs from Fox. The university of
Oxford, which had marked its approbation of North's orthodoxy by electing
him chancellor, the city of London,
which had been, during two and twenty
years, at war with the Court, were
equally disgusted. Squires and rectors,
who had inherited the principles of the
cavaliers of the preceding  century,
could not forgive their old leader for
combining with disloyal subjects in or



110       William Pitt.
der to put a force on the sovereign.
The members of the Bill of Rights Society and of the Reform Associations
were enraged by learning that their
favorite orator now called the great
champion of tyranny and corruption
his noble friend. Two great multitudes
were at once left without any head,
and both at once turned their eyes on
Pitt. One party saw in him the only
man who could rescue the Iing; the
other saw in him the only man who
could purify the parliament. ie was
supported on one side by Archbishop
Markham, the preacher of divine right,
and by Jenkinson, the captain of the
Prmltorian band of the King's fiiends;
on tlhe other side by Jebb and Priestley,
Sawbridge and Cartwright,Jack Wilkes
and Horne Tooke. On the benches of
the House of Commons, however, the
ranks of the ministerial majority were
unbroklen; and  that any statesman




William Pitt.         111 
would venture to brave such a majority
was thought impossible. No prince of
the Hanoverian line had ever, under anyv
provocation, ventured to appeal fro     i
the representative body to the constit- 
uent body. The ministers, therefore, 
notwithstanding the sullen looks and 
muttered words of displeasure with 
which their suggestions were received
in the closet, notwithstanding the roar 
of obloquy which was rising louder and 
louder every day from every corner of
the island, thought themselves secure.
Such was their confidence in their
strength that, as soon as the parliament
had met, they brought forward a sin- 
gularly bold and original plan for the
government of the British territories in
India. What was proposed was that
the whole authority, which till that
time had been exercised over those territories by the East India Compaly, 
should be transferred to seven conl_1.           __       Ir~~~~~~~~




112       William Pitt.
missioners, who were to be named by
parliament, and were not to be removable at the pleasure of the Crown.
Earl FitzwiIliam, the most intimate
personal friend of Fox, was to be chairman of this board, and the eldest son
of North was to be one of the members.
As soon as the outlines of the scheme
were known, all the hatred which the
coalition had excited burst forth with
an astounding explosion. The question
which ought undoubtedly to have been
considered as paramount to every other
was, whether the proposed change was
likely to be beneficial or injurious to
the thirty millions of people who were
subject to the Company.  But that
question cannot be said to have been
even seriously discussed. Burke, who,
whether right or wrong in the conclusions to which he came, had at least
the merit of looking at the subject in
the right point of view, vainly remind



William Pitt.         113
ed his hearers of that mighty population whose daily rice might depend on
a vote of the British parliament.  He
spoke, with even more than his wonted
power of thought and language, about
the desolation of Rohilcund, about the
spoliation of Benares, about the evil
policy which had suffered the tanks of
the Carnatic to go to ruin; but he
could scarcely obtain a hearing.  The
contending parties, to their shame it
must be said, would listen to none but
English topics. Out of doors the cry
against the ministry was almost universal.  Town and country were united.
Corporations exclaimed against the violation of the charter of the greatest corporation in the realm. Tories and democrats joined in pronouncing the proposed board an unconstitutional body.
It was to consist of Fox's nominees.
The effect of his bill was to give, not
to the Crown, but to him  personally,




114       William  Pitt.
whether in office or in opposition, an
enormous power, a patronage sufficient
to counterbalance the patronage of the
Treasury and of the Admiralty, and to
decide the elections for fifty boroughs.
IHe knew, it was said, that he was hateful alike to King and people; and he
had devised a plan which would make
him independent of both. Some nicknamed him Cromwell, and some Carlo
Khan.  Wilberforce, with his usual
felicity of expression, and with very
unusual bitterness of feeling, described
the scheme as the genuine offspring of
the coalition, as marked with the features of both its parents, the corruption
of one and the violence of the other.
In spite of all opposition, however, the
bill was supported in every stage by
great majorities, was rapidly passed,
and was sent up to the Lords. To the
general astonishment, when the second
reading was moved in the upper house,




William  Pitt.        115
the opposition proposed an adjournment, and carried it by eighty-seven
votes to seventy-nine. The cause of
this strange turn of fortune was soon
known.  Pitt's cousin, Earl Temple,
had been in the royal closet, and had
there been authorized to let it be known
that his Majesty would consider all who
voted for the bill as his enemies. The
ignominious commission was performed, and instantly a troop of lords of the
bedchamber, of bishops who wished to
be translated, and of Scotch peers who
who wished to be re-elected, made haste
to change sides. On a later day, the
Lords rejected the bill. Fox and North
were immediately directed to send their
seals to the palace by their under secretaries; and Pitt was appointed first
lord of the treasury and chancellor of
the exchequer.
The general opinion was, that there
would be an immediate dissolution.




116       William  Pitt.
But Pitt wisely determined to give the
public feeling time to gather strength.
On this point he differed from his kinsman Temple. The consequence was,
that Temple, who had been appointed
one of the secretaries of state, resigned
his office forty-eight hours after he had
accepted it, and thus relieved the new
government from a great load of unpopularity; for all men of sense and
honor, however strong might be their
dislike of the India bill, disapproved of
the manner in which that bill had been
thrown out. Temple carried away with
him the scandal which the best friends
of the new government could not but
lament. The fame of the young prime
minister preserved its whiteness. He
could declare with perfect truth that,
if unconstitutional machinations had
been employed, he had been no party
to them.
He was, however, surrounded by




William Pitt.         117
difficulties and dangers. In the House
of Lords, indeed, he had a majority;
nor could any orator of the opposition
in that assembly be considered as a
match for Thurlow, who was now again
chancellor, or for Camden, who cordially supported the son of his old
friend Chatham. But in the other
house there was not a single eminent
speaker among the official men who
sat round Pitt.  His most useful assistant was Dundas, who, though he
had not eloquence, had sense, knowledge, readiness, and boldness. On the
opposite benches was a powerful majority, led by Fox, who was supported
by Burke, North, and Sheridan. The
heart of the young minister, stout as it
was, almost died within him. He could
not once close his eyes on the night
which followed Temple's resignation.
But, whatever his internal emotions
might be, his language and deportment




118       William  Pitt.
indicated nothing but unconquerable
firmness and haughty confidence in his
own powers. His contest against the
House of Commons lasted from the 17th
of December, 1783, to the 8th of March,
1784. In sixteen divisions the opposition triumphed. Again and again the
King was requested to dismiss his ministers. But he was determined to go
to Germany rather than yield. Pitt's
resolution never wavered. The cry of
the nation in  his favor became vehenment and almost furious. Addresses
assuring him of public support came
up daily from every part of the kingdom. The freedom of the city of London was presented to him in a gold box.
He went in state to receive this mark
of distinction. He was sumptuously
feasted in Grocers' Hall; and the shopkeepers of the Strand and Fleet Street
illuminated their houses in his honor.
These things could not but produce an




William Pitt.        119
effect within the walls of parliament.
The ranks of the majority began to
waver; a few passed over to the enemy; some skulked away; many were
for capitulating while it was still possible to capitulate with the honors of
war. Negotiations were opened with
the view of forming an administration
on a wide basis, but they had scarcely
been opened when they were closed.
The opposition demanded, as a preliminary article of the treaty, that Pitt
should resign the treasury; and with
this demand Pitt steadfastly refused to
comply. While the contest was raging, the clerkship of the Pells, a sinecure place for life, worth three thousand a-year, and tenable with a seat in
the House of Commons, became vacant. The appointment was with the
chancellor of the exchequer; nobody
doubted that he would appoint himself;
and nobody could have blamed him




120       William  Pitt.
if he had done so; for such sinecure
offices had always been defended on
the ground that they enabled a few
men of eminent abilities and small incomes to live without any profession,
and to devote themselves to the service
of the state. Pitt, in spite of the remonstrances of his friends, gave the
Pells to his father's old adherent, Colonel Barre, a man distinguished by talent and eloquence, but poor and afflicted with blindness. By this arrangement a pension which the Rockingham
administration had granted to Barre
was saved to the public. Never was
there a happier stroke of policy. About
treaties, wars, expeditions, tariffs, budgets, there will always be room for dispute. The policy which is applauded
by half the nation may be condemned
by the other half. But pecuniary disinterestedness everybody comprehends.
It is a great thing for a man who has




William Pitt.         121
only three hundred a-year to be able to
show that he considers three thousand
a-year as mere dirt beneath his feet,
when compared with the public interest and the public esteem. Pitt had his
reward. No minister was ever more
rancorously libelled; but even when
he was known to be overwhelmed
with debt, when millions were passing
through his hands, when the wealthiest
magnates of the realm were soliciting
him for marquisates and garters, his
bitterest enemies did not dare to accuse him of touching unlawful gain.
At length the hard fought fight ended. A final remonstrance, drawn up
by Burke with admirable skill, was
carried on the 8th of March by a single
vote in a full house. Had the experiment been repeated, the supporters of
the coalition would probably have been
in a minority. But the supplies had
been voted; the mutiny bill had been




122        William Pitt.
passed; and the parliament was dissolved.
The popular constituent bodies all
over the country were in general enthusiastic on the side of the new government. A hundred and sixty of the
supporters of the coalition lost their
seats. The first lord of the treasury
himself came in at the head of the poll
for the university of Cambridge. His
young friend, Wilberforce, was elected
knight of the great shire of York, in
opposition to the whole influence of the
Fitzwilliams, Cavendishes, Dundases,
and Saviles.  In the midst of such
triumphs Pitt completed his twentyfifth year. He was now  the greatest
subject that England had seen during
many generations. He domineered absolutely over the cabinet, and was the
favorite at once of the sovereign, of
the parliament, and of the nation. His




William Pitt.           123
father had never been so powerful, nor
Walpole, nor Marlborough.
This narrative has now reached a
point, beyond which a full history of
the life of Pitt would be a history of
England, or rather of the whole civilized world; and for such a history this
is not the proper place. Here a very
slight sketch must suffice; and in that
sketch prominence will be given to
such points as may enable a reader who
is already acquainted with the general
course of events, to form a just notion
of the character of the man on whom
so much depended.
If we wish to arrive at a correct
judgment of Pitt's merits and defects,
we must never forget that he belonged
to a peculiar class of statesmen, and
that lie must be tried by a peculiar
standard. It is not easy to compare
him fairly with such men as Ximenes
and Sully, Richelieu and Oxenstiern,




124       William Pitt.
John De Witt and Warren Hastings.
The means by which those politicians
governed great communities were of
quite a different kind from those which
Pitt was under the necessity of employing. Some talents, which they never
had any opportunity of showing that
they  possessed, were developed in
him to an extraordinary degree. In
some qualities, on the other hand, to
which they owe a large part of their
fame, he was decidedly their inferior.
They transacted business in their closets, or at boards where a few confidential councillors sat. It was his lot
to be born in an age and in a country
in which parliamentary government
was completely established; his whole
training from  infancy was such as
fitted him to bear a part in parliamentary government; and from the prime
of his manhood to his death, all the
powers of his vigorous mind were al



William Pitt.         125
most constantly exerted in the work of
parliamentary  government.  He accordingly became the greatest master
of the whole art of parliamentary government that has ever existed, a greater
than Montague or Walpole, a greater
than his father Chatham or his rival
Fox, a greater than either of his illustrious successors Canning and Peel.
Parliamentary government. like every other contrivance of man, has its
advantages and its disadvantages. On
the advantages there is no need to dilate. The history of England during
the hundred and seventy years which
have elapsed since the House of Commons became the most powerful body
in the state, her immense and still
growing prosperity, her freedom, her
tranquillity, her greatness in arts, in
sciences, and in arms, her maritime ascendency, the marvels of her public
credit, her American, her African, her




126        William Pitt.
Australian, her Asiatic empires sufficiently  prove the excellence of her
institutions. But those institutions,
though excellent, are assuredly not perfect.  Parliamentary  government is
government by speaking. In such a
government, the power of speaking is
the most highly prized of all the qualities which a politician can possess; and
that power may exist, in the highest
degree, without judgment, without fortitude, without skill in reading the
characters of men or the signs of the
times, without any knowledge of the
principles of legislation or of political
economy, and without any  skill in
diplomacy or in the administration of
war. Nay, it may well happen that
those very intellectual qualities which
give a peculiar charm to the speeches
of a public man, may be incompatible with the  qualities which would
fit him  to  meet a  pressing emer



William Pitt.         127
gency with promptitude and firmness.
It was thus with Charles Townshend.
It was thus with Windham. It was a
privilege to listen to those accomplished
and ingenious orators. But in a perilous crisis they would have been found
far inferior in all the qualities of rulers
to such a man as Oliver Cromwell, who
talked nonsense, or as William the Silent, who did not talk at all. When
parliamentary government is established, a Charles Townshend or a Windham will almost always exercise much
greater influence than such men as the
great Protector of England, or as the
founder of the Batavian commonwealth.
In such a government, parliamentary
talent, though quite distinct from the
talents of a good executive or judicial
officer, will be a chief qualification for
executive and judicial office.  From
the Book of Dignities a curious list
might be made out of chancellors ig



128       William Pitt.
norant of the principles of equity, and
first lords of the admiralty ignorant
of the principles of navigation, of colonial ministers who could not repeat the
names of the colonies, of lords of the
treasury who did not know the difference between funded and unfunded
debt, and of secretaries of the India
board who did not know whether the
Mahrattas were Mahometans or Hindoos. On these grounds, some persons,
incapable of seeing more than one side
of a question, have pronounced parliamentary government a positive evil,
and have maintained that the administration would be greatly improved if
the power, now exercised by a large
assembly, were transferred to a single
person. Men of sense will probably
think the remedy very much worse
than the disease, and will be of opinion that there would be small gain in
exchanging Charles Townshend and




Filliam Pitt.        129
Windham for the prince of the peace,
or the poor slave and dog Steenie.
Pitt was emphatically the man of
parliamentary government, the type of
his class, the minion, the child, the
spoiled child, of the House of Commons. For the House of Commons he
had a hereditary, an infantine love.
Through his whole boyhood, the House
of Commons was never out of his
thoughts, or out of the thoughts of his
instructors. Reciting at his father's
knee, reading Thucydides and Cicero
into English, analyzing the great Attic
speeches on the Embassy and on the
Crown, he was constantly in training
for the conflicts of the House of Commons. He was a distinguished member of the House of Commons at
twenty-one. The ability which he had
displayed in the House of Commons
made him the most powerful subject in
Europe Boe  before he was twenty9




130       William  Pitt.
five. It would have been happy for
himself and for his country if his elevation had been deferred. Eight or ten
years, during which he would have had
leisure and opportunity for reading
and reflection, for foreign travel, for
social intercourse and free exchange of
thought on equal terms with a great
variety of companions, would have supplied what, without any fault on his
part, was wanting to his powerful intellect.  He had all the knowledge
that he could be expected to have; that
is to say, all the knowledge that a man
can acquire while he is a student at Cambridge, and all the knowledge that a
man can acquire when he is first lord
of the treasury and chancellor of the
exchequer. But the stock of general
information which he brought from
college, extraordinary for a boy, was
far inferior to what Fox possessed, and
beggarly  when  compared with the




'William Pitt.        131
massy, the splendid, the various treasures laid up in the large mind of Burke.
After Pitt became minister, he had no
leisure to learn more than was necessary for the purposes of the day which
was passing over him. What was necessary for those purposes such a man
could learn with little difficulty. He
was surrounded by experienced and
able public servants. He could at any
moment command their best assistance.
From the stores which they produced
his vigorous mind rapidly collected the
materials for a good parliamentary
case: and that was enough. Legislation and administration were with him
secondary matters.  To the work of
framing statutes, of negotiating treaties,
of organizing fleets and armies, of sending forth expeditions, he gave only the
leavings of his time and the dregs of
his fine intellect. The strength and
sap of his mind were all drawn in a




132       William Pitt.
different direction. It was when the
House of Commons was to be convinced and persuaded that he put forth
all his powers.
Of those powers we must form our
estimate chiefly from tradition; for of
all the eminent speakers of the last age,
Pitt has suffered most from the reporters. Even while he was still living,
critics remarked that his eloquence
could not be preserved, that he must
be heard to be appreciated.  They
more than once applied to him  the
sentence in which Tacitus describes
the fate of a senator whose rhetoric
was admired in the Augustan age:
" Haterii canorum illud et profluens
cum ipso simul exstinctum est." There
is, however, abundant evidence that
nature had bestowed on Pitt the talents
of a great orator; and those talents had
been developed in a very peculiar
manner  first by his education, and




William Pitt.          133
secondly by the high official position
to which he rose early, and in which
he passed the greater part of his public
life.
At his first appearance in parliament
he showed himself superior to all his
contemporaries in command of language. He could pour forth a long
succession of round and stately periods,
without premeditation, without ever
pausing for a word, without ever repeating a word, in a voice of silver
clearness, and with a pronunciation so
articulate that not a letter was slurred
over. IIe had less amplitude of mind
and less richness of imagination than
Burke, less ingenuity than Windham,
less wit than Sheridan, less perfect
mastery of dialectical fence, and less
of that highest sort of eloquence which
consists of reason and passion fused
together, than Fox. Yet the almost
unanimous judgment of those who




134       William Pitt.
were in the habit of listening to that
remarkable race of men placed Pitt, as
a speaker, above Burke, above Windham, above Sheridan, and not below
Fox. His declamation was copious,
polished, and splendid. In power of
sarcasm he was probably not surpassed
by any speaker, ancient or modern;
and of this formidable weapon he made
merciless use. In two parts of the
oratorical art which are of the highest
value to a minister of state he was singularly expert. No man knew better
how to be luminous or how to be obscure. When he wished to be understood he never failed to make himself
understood. He could with ease present to his audience, not perhaps an
exact or profound, but a clear, popular,
and plausible view of the most extensive and complicated subject. Nothing
was out of place; nothing was forgotten; minute details, dates,sums of mo=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~




William Pitt.        135
ney, were all faithfully preserved in his
memory. Even intricate questions of
finance, when explained by him, seemed clear to the plainest man among his
hearers. On the other hand, when he
did not wish to be explicit-and no
man who is at the head of affairs always wishes to be explicit-he had a
marvellous power of saying nothing in
language which left on his audience the
impression that he had said a great
deal. He was at once the only man
who could open a budget without notes,
and the only man who, as Windham
said, could speak that most elaborately
evasive and unmeaning of human compositions, a King's  speech, without
premeditation.
The effect of oratory will always, to
a great extent, depend on the character
of the orator. There perhaps never
were two speakers whose eloquence
had more of what may be called the




136       William Pitt.
race, more of the flavor imparted by
moral qualities, than Fox and Pitt.
The speeches of Fox owe a great part
of their charm to that warmth and softness of heart, that sympathy with human suffering, that admiration for every
thing great and beautiful, and that
hatred of cruelty and injustice, which
interest and delight us even in the most
defective reports. No person, on the
other hand, could hear Pitt without
perceiving him to be a man of high,
intrepid, and commanding spirit, proudly conscious of his own rectitude and
of his own intellectual superiority, incapable of the low vices of fear and
envy, but too prone to feel and to show
disdain. Pride, indeed, pervaded the
whole man, was written in the harsh,
rigid lines of his face, was marked by
the way in which he walked, in which
he sat, in which he stood, and, above
all, in which he bowed. Such pride, of




William Pitt.        137
course, inflicted many wounds. It may
confidently be affirmed that there cannot be found, in all the ten thousand
invectives written against Fox, a word
indicating that his demeanor had ever
made a single personal enemy. On the
other hand, several men of note who
had been partial to Pitt, and who to
the last continued to approve his public conduct and to support his administration, Cumberland, for example, Boswell, and Matthias, were so much irritated by the contempt with which he
treated them, that they complained in
print of their wrongs. But his pride,
though it made him bitterly disliked by
individuals, inspired the great body of
his followers in parliament and throughout the country with respect and confidence. They took him at his own valuation. They saw that his self-esteem
was not that of an upstart, who was
drunk with good luck and with ap



138       William Pitt.
plause, and who, if fortune turned,
would sink from arrogance into abject
humility. It was that of the magnanimous man so finely described by Aristotle in the Ethics, of the man who
thinks himself worthy of great things,
being in truth worthy. It sprang from
a consciousness of great powers and
great virtues, and was never so conspicuously displayed as in the midst of
difficulties and dangers which would
have unnerved and bowed down any
ordinary mind. It was closely connected, too, with an ambition which
had no mixture of low cupidity. There
was something noble in the cynical
disdain with which the mighty minister
scattered riches and titles to right and
left among those who valued them,
while he spurned them out of his own
way. Poor himself, he was surrounded
by friends on whom he had bestowed
three thousand, six thousand, ten thou



William Pitt.         139
sand a-year. Plain Mister himself, he
had made more lords than any three
ministers that had preceded him. The
garter, for which the first dukes in the
kingdom were contending, was repeatedly offered to him, and offered in vain.
The correctness of his private life
added much to the dignity of his public character. In the relations of son,
brother, uncle, master, friend, his conduct was exemplary.   In the small
circle of his intimate associations, he
was amiable, affectionate, even playful.
They loved him  sincerely; they regretted him  long; and they would
hardly admit that he who was so kind
and gentle with them, could be stern
and haughty with others. He indulged, indeed, somewhat too freely in
wine, which he had early been directed
to take as a medicine, and which use
had made a necessary of life to him.
But it was very seldom that any indi



140        William Pitt.
cation of undue excess could be detected in his tones or gestures; and,
in truth, two bottles of port were little
more to him  than two dishes of tea.
He had, when he was first introduced
into the clubs of Saint James's Street,
shown a strong taste for play; but he
had the prudence and the resolution to
stop before this taste had acquired the
strength of habit. From  the passion
which generally exercises the most tyrannical dominion over the young he
possessed an immunity, which is probably to be ascribed partly to his temperament, and partly to his situation.
His constitution was feeble: he was
very shy; and he was very busy. The
strictness of his morals furnished such
buffoons as Peter Pindar and Captain
Morris with an inexhaustible theme for
merriment of no very delicate kind.
But the great body of the middle class
of Englishmen could not see the joke.




William Pitt.         141
They warmly praised the young statesman for commanding his passions, and
for covering his frailties, if he had frailties, with decorous obscurity, and would
have been very far indeed from thinking better of him if he had vindicated
himself from the taunts of his enemies
by taking under his protection a Nancy
Parsons or a Marianne Clark.
No part of the immense popularity
which Pitt long enjoyed is to be attributed to the eulogies of wits and poets.
It might have been naturally expected
that a man of genius, of learning, of
taste, an orator whose diction was often
compared to that of Tully, the representative, too, of a great university,
would have taken a peculiar pleasure
in befriending eminent writers, to whatever political party they might have
belonged. The love of literature had
induced Augustus to heap benefits on
Pompeians, Somers to be the protector




142       William Pitt.
of nonjurors, Harley to make the fortunes of Whigs. But it could not move
Pitt to show any favor even to Pittites.
He was doubtless right in thinking that,
in general, poetry, history, and philosophy ought to be suffered, like calico
and cutlery, to find their proper price
in the market, and that to teach men of
letters to look habitually to the state
for their recompense, is bad for the
state and bad for letters.  Assuredly
nothing can be more absurd or mischievous than to waste the public money
in bounties, for the purpose of inducing
people who ought to be weighing out
grocery or measuring out drapery, to
write bad or middling books. But,
though the sound rule is that authors
should be left to be remunerated by
their readers, there will, in every generation, be a few exceptions to this rule.
To distinguish these special cases from
the masses, is an employment well




William Pitt.         143
worthy of the faculties of a great and
accomplished ruler; and Pitt would
assuredly have had little difficulty in
finding such cases. While he was in
power, the greatest philologist of the
age, his own contemporary at Cambridge, was reduced to earn a livelihood by the lowest literary drudgery,
and to spend in writing squibs for the
Morning Chronicle years to which we
might have owed an all but perfect
text of the whole tragic and comic
drama of Athens.  The greatest historian of the age, forced by poverty to
leave his country, completed his immortal work on the shores of Lake Leman.  The political heterodoxy of
Porson, and the religious heterodoxy
of Gibbon, may perhaps be pleaded in
defence of the minister by whom those
eminent men were neglected.   But
there were other cases in which no such
excuse could be set up. Scarcely had




144       WVilliam Pitt.
Pitt obtained possession of unbounded
power, when an aged writer of the
highest eminence, who had made very
little by his writings, and who was
sinking into the grave under a load of
infirmities and sorrows, wanted five or
six hundred pounds to enable him,
during the winter or two which might
still remain to him, to draw his breath
more easily in the soft climate of Italy.
Not a farthing was to be obtained; and
before Christmas the author of the
English Dictionary and of the lives of
the poets, had gasped his last in the
river fog and coal smoke of Fleet Street.
A few months after the death of Johnson appeared the Task, incomparably
the best poem  that any Englishman
then living had produced-a poem, too,
which could hardly fail to excite in
a well-constituted mind, a feeling of
esteem and compassion for the poet, a
man of genius and virtue, whose means




William Pitt.         145
were scanty, and whom the most cruel
of all the calamities incident to humanity had made incapable of supporting himself by vigorous and sustained
exertion. Nowhere had Chatham been
praised with more enthusiasm, or in
verse more worthy of the subject, than
in the Task. The son of Chatham, however, contented himself with reading
and admiring the book, and left the
author to starve. The pension which,
long after, enabled poor Cowper to
close his melancholy life, unmolested by
duns and bailiffs, was obtained for him
by the strenuous kindness of Lord
Spencer. What a contrast between
the way in which Pitt acted towards
Johnson, and the way in which Lord
Grey acted towards his political enemy
Scott, when Scott, worn out by misfortune and disease, was advised to try
the effect of the Italian air! What a
contrast between the way in which
10




146       William Pitt.
Pitt acted towards Cowper, and the
way in which Burke, a poor man and
out of place, acted towards Crabbe!
Even Dundas, who made no pretensions to literary taste, and was content
to be considered as a hard-headed and
somewhat coarse man of business, was,
when compared with his eloquent and
classically educated friend, a Maecenas
or a Leo. Dundas made Burns an exciseman, with seventy pounds a year;
and this was more than Pitt, during
his long tenure of power, did for the
encouragement of letters. Even those
who may think that it is, in general, no
-part of the duty of a government to reward literary merit, will hardly deny
that a government, which has much
lucrative church preferment in its gift,
is bound, in distributing that preferment, not to overlook divines whose
writings have rendered great service to
the cause of religion. But it seems never




William  Pitt.        147
to have occurred to Pitt that he lay
under any such obligation.  All the
theological works of the numerous bishops whom he made and translated are
not, when put together, worth fifty
pages of the Horse Paulnme, of the
Natural Theology, or of the Views of
the Evidences of Christianity. But on
Paley the all-powerful minister never
bestowed the smallest benefice. Artists
Pitt treated as contemptuously as writers. For painting he did simply nothing. Sculptors, who had been selected
to execute monuments voted by parliament, had to haunt the ante-chambers
of the treasury during many years before they could obtain a farthing fromn
him. One of them, after vainly solicit
ing the minister for payment duringi(
fourteen years, had the courage to present a memorial to the King, and thus
obtained tardy and ungracious justice.
Architects it was absolutely necessary
-li




148        William  Pitt.
to employ; and the worst that could be
found seemed to have been employed.
Not a single fine public building of any
kind or in any style was erected during
his long administration.  It may be
confidently affirmed that no ruler whose
abilities and attainments would bear
any comparison with his has ever shown
such cold disdain for what is excellent
in arts and letters.
His first administration lasted seventeen years. That long period is divided
by a strongly marked line into two almost exactly equal parts.  The first
part ended and the second began in the
autumn of 1792.   Throughout both
parts Pitt displayed in the highest degree the talents of a parliamentary
leader. During the first part he was a
fortunate, and, in many respects, a skilful administrator. With the difficulties
which he lhad to encounter during the
second part he was altogether incapable
i_.-                              Ir~~~~~~~~~~~




William Pitt.          149
of contending: but his eloquence and
his perfect mastery of the tactics of the
House of Commons concealed his incapacity from the multitude.
The eight years which followed the
general election of 1784 were as tranquil and prosperous as any eight years
in  the whole  history  of England.
Neighboring nations which had lately
been in arms against her, and which
had flattered themselves that, in losing
her American colonies, she had lost a
chief source of her wealth and of her
power, saw, with wonder and vexation,
that she was more wealthy and more
powerful than ever.  HIer trade increased. Her manufactures flourished.
Her exchequer was full to overflowing.
Very idle apprehensions were generally
entertained that the public debt, though
much less than a third of the debt
which we now bear with ease, would
be found too heavy for the strength of




150       William  Pitt.
the nation. Those apprehensions might
not perhaps have been easily quieted
by reason. But Pitt quieted them by
a juggle. He succeeded in persuading
first himself, and then the whole nation,
his opponents included, that a new sinking fund, which, so far as it differed
from former sinking funds, differed for
the worst, would, by virtue of some mysterious power of propagation belonging
to money, put into the pocket of the
public creditor great sums not taken out
of the pocket of the tax-payer. The
country, terrified by a danger which
was no danger, hailed with delight and
boundless confidence a remedy which
was no remedy. The minister was almnost universally extolled as the greatest of financiers. Meanwhile both the
branches of the House of Bourbon found
that England was as formidable an antagonist as she had ever been. France
had formed a plan for reducing HIolland




William Pitt.         151
to vassalage. But England interposed,
and France receded. Spain interrupted
by violence the trade of our merchants
with the regions near the Oregon. But
England armed, and Spain receded.
Within the island there was profound
tranquillity. The King was, for the
first time, popular. During the twentythree years which had followed his accession he had not been loved by his
subjects. His domestic virtues were
acknowledged. But it was generally
thought that the good  qualities by
which he was distinguished in private
life were wanting to his political character. As a sovereign, he was resentful, unforgiving, stubborn, cunning.
Under his rule th.e country had sustained cruel disgraces and disasters;
and every one of those disgraces and
disasters was imputed to his strong antipatlies, and to his perverse obstinacy
in the wrong. One statesman after an



152       William Pitt.
other complained that he had been induced by royal caresses, entreaties, and
promises, to undertake the direction of
affairs at a difficult conjuncture, and
that, as soon as he had, not without sullying his fame and alienating his best
friends, served the turn for which he
was wanted, his ungrateful master began to intrigue against him, and to canvass against him. Grenville, Rockingham, Chatham, men of widely different characters, but all three upright
and high-spirited, agreed in thinking
that the Prince under whom they had
successively held the highest place in
the government, was one of the most
insincere of mankind. His confidence
was reposed, they said, not in those
known and responsible counsellors to
whom  he had delivered the seals of
office, but in secret advisers who stole
up the back stairs into his closet. In
parliament, his ministers, while defend



William Pitt.           153
ing themselves against the attacks of
the opposition in front, were perpetually, at his instigation, assailed on the
flank or in the rear by a vile band of
mercenaries who called themselves his
friends. These men constantly, while
in possession of lucrative places in his
service, spoke and voted against bills
which he had authorized the first lord
of the treasury or the secretary of state
to bring in.  But from  the day in
which Pitt was placed at the head of
affairs there was an end of secret influence. His haughty and aspiring spirit
was not to be satisfied with the mere
show of power. Any attempt to undermine him  at court, any mutinous
movement among his followers in the
House of Commons, was certain to be
at once put down. He had only to
tender his resignation; and he could
dictate his own terms. For he, and he
alone, stood between the King and the




154        William Pitt.
coalition. He was therefore little less
than mayor of the palace. The nation
loudly applauded the King for having
the wisdom to repose entire confidence
in so excellent a minister.  His iMIajesty's private virtues now began to produce their full effect. He was generally regarded as the model of a respectable country gentleman, honest, goodnatured, sober, religious.  IHe rose
early: he dined temperately: he was
strictly faithful to his wife: he never
missed church: and at church he never
missed a response. His people heartily
prayed that he might long reign over
them; and they prayed the more heartily, because his virtues were set off to
the best advantage by the vices and
follies of the Prince of Wales, who
lived in close intimacy with the chiefs
of the opposition.
How strong this feeling was in the
public mind, appeared  signally on




W illiam Pitt.        155
one great occasion. In the autumn of
1788 the King became insane. The
opposition, eager for office, committed
the great indiscretion of asserting that
the heir apparent had, by the fundamental laws of England, a right to be
Regent with the full powers of royalty.
Pitt, on the other hand, maintained it
to be the constitutional doctrine that,
when a sovereign is, by reason of infancy, disease, or absence, incapable of
exercising the regal functions, it belongs to the estates of the realm to determine who shall be the vicegerent,
and with what portion of the executive
authority such vicegerent shall be intrusted. A long and violent contest followed, in which Pitt was supported by
the great body of the people with as
much enthusiasm  as during the first
months of his administration. Tories
with one voice applauded him for defending the sick-bed of a virtuous and




156       WVilliam Pitt.
unhappy sovereign against a disloyal
faction and an undutiful son. Not a
few Whigs applauded him for asserting the authority of parliaments and
the principles of the revolution, in opposition to a doctrine which seemed to
have too much affinity with the servile theory of indefeasible hereditary
right. The middle class, always zealous on the side of decency and the domestic virtues, looked forward with
dismay to a reign resembling that of
Charles II. The palace, which had now
been, during thirty years, the pattern
of an English home, would be a public
nuisance, a school of profligacy. To
the good King's repast of mutton and
lemonade, despatched at three o'clock,
would  succeed  midnight banquets,
from which the guests would be carried
home speechless. To the backgammon
board at which the good King played
for a little silver with his equerries,




William Pitt.          157
would succeed faro tables, from which
young patricians who had sat down
rich would rise up beggars. The drawing-room, from which the frown of the
Queen had repelled a whole generation
of frail beauties, would now be again
what it had been in the days of Barbara
Palmer and Louisa de Querouaile. Ntay,
severely as the public reprobated the
Prince's many illicit attachments, his
one virtuous attachment was reprobated more severely still. Even in grave
and pious circles his Protestant mistresses gave less scandal than his Popish wife. That he must be Regent
nobody ventured to deny. But he and.
his friends were so unpopular that Pitt
could, with general approbation, propose to limit the powers of the Regent
by restrictions to which itwould have
been impossible to subject a prince
beloved and trusted by the country.
Some interested men, fully expecting a




158       William  Pitt.
change of administration, went over to
the opposition. But the majority, purified by these desertions, closed its
ranks, and presented a more firm array
than ever to the enemy. In every division Pitt was victorious. When at
length, after a stormy interregnum of
three months, it was announced, on the
very eve of the inauguration of the
Regent, that the King was himself
again, the nation was wild with delight.
On the evening of the day on which
his Majesty resumed his functions, a
spontaneous illumination, the most general that had ever been seen in England, brightened the whole vast space
from  Ilighgate to Tooting, and from
Hammersmith to Greenwich.  On the
day on which he returned thanks in the
cathedral of his capital, all the horses
and carriages within a hundred miles
of London were too few for the multitudes which flocked to see him pass
11




William  Pitt.         159
through the streets. A second illumination followed, which was even superior to the first in magnificence.  Pitt
with difficulty escaped from the tumultuous kindness of an innumerable multitude, which insisted on drawing his
coach from St. Paul's churchyard to
Downing Street. This was the moment
at which his fame and fortune may be
said to have reached the zenith. His
influence in the closet was as great as
that of Carr or Villiers had been. His
dominion.over the parliament was more
absolute than that of Walpole or Pelham  had been. He was at the same
time as high in the favor of the populace as ever Wilkes or Sacheverell had
been. Nothing did more to raise his
character than his noble poverty. It
was well known that, if he had been
dismissed from  office after more than
five years of boundless power, he would
hardly have carried out with him a sum




160        William  Pitt.
sufficient to furnish tih set of chambers
in which, he cheerfully declared, he
meant to resume the practice of the
law. His admirers, however, were by
no means disposed to suffer him to de.
pend on daily toil for his daily bread.
The  voluntary  contributions  which
were awaiting his acceptance in the
city of London alone would have sufficed to make him a rich man. But it
may be doubted whether his haughty
spirit would have stooped to accept a
provision so honorably earned and so
honorably bestowed.
To such a height of power and glory
had this extraordinary man risen at
twenty-nine years of age. And now
the tide was on the turn.  Only ten
days after the triumphant procession to
St.Paul's, the States-General of France,
after an interval of a hundred and seventy-four years, met at Versailles.
The nature of the great Revolution




William Pitt.          161
which followed was long very imperfectly understood in this country. Burke
saw much further than any of his contemporaries; but whatever his sagacity
descried was refracted and discolored
by his passions and his imagination.
More than three years elapsed before
the principles of the English administration underwent any material change.
Nothing could as yet be milder or
more strictly constitutional than the
minister's domestic policy.  Not a single act indicating an arbitrary temper
or a jealousy of the people could be imputed to him. He had never applied
to parliament for any extraordinary
powers.  He had never used with
harshness the ordinary powers intrusted by the constitution to the executive
government. Not a single state prosecution which would even now be called
oppressive had been instituted by him.
Indeed, the only oppressive state prose



162          William   Pitt.
cution instituted during the first eight
years of his administration was that of
Stockdale, which is to be attributed,
not to the government, but to the chiefs
of the opposition. In office, Pitt had
redeemed the pledges which he had, at
his entrance into public life, given to
the supporters of parliamentary reform.
He had, in 1785, brought forward a judicious plan for the improvement of
the representative system, and had prevailed on the King, not only to refrain
from talking against that plan, but to
recommend it to the houses in a speech
from  the throne.' This attempt failed:
but there can be little doubt that, if
the  French  Revolution  had not produced a violent reaction of public feeling, Pitt would  have performed, with
1 The speech with which the King opened the session of
1785 concluded with an assurance, that His Majesty would
heartily concur in every measure which could tend to secure the true principles of the constitution. These words
were at the time understood to refer to Pitt's Reform Bill.




William Pitt.          163
little difficulty and no  danger, that
great work which, at a later period,
Lord Grey could accomplish only by
means which for a time loosened the
very foundations of the commonwealth.
When the atrocities of the slave trade
were first brought under the consideration of parliament, no abolitionist was
more zealous than Pitt. When sickness prevented Wilberforce from  appearing in public, his place was most
efficiently supplied by his friend the
minister. A humane bill, which mitigated the horrors of the middle passage,
was, in 1788, carried by the eloquence
and determined spirit of Pitt, in spite
of the opposition of some of his own
colleagues; and it ought always to be
remembered to his honor that, in order
to carry that bill, he kept the houses sitting, in spite of many murmurs, long
after the business of the government
had been done, and the appropriation




164       William Pitt.
act passed. In 1791 he cordially concurred with Fox in maintaining the
sound constitutional doctrine, that an
impeachment is not terminated by a
dissolution. In the course of the same
year the two great rivals contended
side by side in a far more important
cause. They are fairly entitled to divide the high honor of having added to
our statute-book the inestimable law
which places the liberty of the press
under the protection of juries. On one
occasion, and one alone, Pitt, during
the first half of his long administration,
acted in a manner unworthy of an enlightened Whig. In the debate on the
test act, he stooped to gratify the master whom  he served, the university
which he represented, and the great
body of clergymen and country gentlemen on whose support he rested, by
talking, with little heartiness, indeed,
and with no asperity, the language of a




William Pitt.         165
Tory. With this single exception, his
conduct from the end of 1783 to the
middle of 192 was that of an honest
friend of civil and religious liberty.
Nor did any thing, during that period, indicate that he loved war, or
harbored any malevolent feeling against
any neighboring nation. Those French
writers who have represented him as a
Hannibal sworn in childhood by his
father to bear eternal hatred to France,
as having, by mysterious intrigues and
lavish bribes, instigated the leading
Jacobins to  commit those excesses
which dishonored the Revolution, as
having been the real author of the first
coalition, know nothing of his character or of his history. So far was he
from being a deadly enemy to France,
that his laudable attempts to bring
about a closer connection with that
country by means of a wise and liberal
treaty of commerce, brought on him the




166       William Pitt.
severe censure of the opposition. He
was told in the IIouse of Commons
that he was a degenerate son, and that
his partiality for the hereditary foes of
our island was enough to make his
great father's bones stir under the
pavement of the Abbey.
And this man, whose name, if he
had been so fortunate as to die in 1792,
would now have been associated with
peace, with freedom, with philanthropy,
with temperate reform, with mild and
constitutional administration, lived to
associate his name with arbitrary government, with harsh laws harshly executed, with alien bills, with gagging
bills, with suspensions of the habeas
corpus act, with  cruel punishments
inflicted on some political agitators,
with unjustifiable prosecutions instituted against others, and with the most
costly and most sanguinary wars of
modern times. He lived to be held up




William Pitt.         167
to obloquy as the stern oppressor of
England, and the indefatigable disturber of Europe. Poets, contrasting
his earlier with his later years, likened
him  sometimes to the apostle who
kissed in order to betray, and sometimes to the evil angels who kept not
their first estate. A satirist of great
genius introduced the fiends of Famine,
Slaughter, and Fire, proclaiming that
they had received their commission
from One whose name was formed of
four letters, and promising to give their
employer ample proofs of gratitude.
Famine would gnaw the multitude till
they should rise up against him  in
madness.  The demon  of Slaughter
would impel them to tear him  from
limb to limb. But Fire boasted that
she alone could reward him as he deserved, and that she would cling round
him to all eternity. By the French
press and the French tribune every




168       William Pitt.
crime that disgraced and every calamity that afflicted France was ascribed
to the monster Pitt and his guineas.
While the Jacobins were dominant, it
was he who had corrupted the Gironde,
who had raised Lyons and Bordeaux
against the convention, who had suborned Paris to assassinate Lepelletier,
and Cecilia Regnault to assasinate
Robespierre. When the Thermidorian
reaction came, all the atrocities of the
Reign of Terror were imputed to him.
Collot D'Herbois and Fouquier Thinville had been his pensioners. It was
he who had hired the murderers of September, who had dictated the pamphlets
of Marat and the Carmagnoles of Barrere, who had paid Lebon to deluge
Arras with blood, and Carrier to choke
the Loire with corpses.
The truth is, that he liked neither
war nor arbitrary government.  He
was a lover of peace and freedom,




William  Pitt.        169
driven, by a stress against which it was
hardly possible for any will or any intellect to struggle, out of the course to
which his inclinations pointed, and for
which his abilities and acquirements
fitted him, and forced into a policy repugnant to his feelings and unsuited to
his talents.
The charge of apostasy is grossly unjust. A man ought no more to be called
an apostate because his opinions alter
with the opinions of the great body of
his contemporaries, than he ought to be
called an oriental traveller because he
is always going round from west to
east with the globe and every thing
that is upon it. Between the spring of
1789 and the close of 1792, the public
mind of England underwent a great
change. If the change of Pitt's sentiments attracted peculiar notice, it was
not because he changed more than his
neighbors; for in fact he changed less




170        William Pitt.
than most of them; but because his
position was far more conspicuous than
theirs, because he was, till Bonaparte
appeared, the individual who filled the
greatest space in the eyes of the inhabitants of the civilized world. During
a short time the nation, and Pitt, as
one of the nation, looked with interest
and approbation on the French Revolution.  But soon vast confiscations,
the violent sweeping away of ancient
institutions, the domination of clubs,
the barbarities of mobs maddened by
famine and hatred, produced a reaction
here. The court, the nobility, the gentry, the clergy, the manufacturers, the
merchants; in  short, nineteen-twentieths of those who had good  roofs
over their heads and good coats on their
backs, became eager and intolerant
Antijacobins. This feeling was at least
as strong among the minister's adversaries as among his supporters. Fox in




William  Pitt.        171
vain attempted to restrain his followers. All his genius, all his vast personal influence, could not prevent them
from rising up against him in general
mutiny. Burke set the example of revolt; and Burke was in no long time
joined by Portland, Spencer, Fitzwillian, Loughborough, Carlisle, Malmesbury, Windham, Elliot. In the House
of Commons, the followers of the great
Whig statesman and orator diminished
from  about a hundred and sixty to
fifty. In the House of Lords he had
but ten or twelve adherents left. There
can be no doubt that there would have
been a similar mutiny on the ministerial benches, if Pitt had obstinately resisted the general wish.  Pressed at
once by his master and by his colleagues, by old friends, and by old opponents, he abandoned, slowly and reluctantly, the policy which was dear
to his heart. He labored hard to avert




1'2       William Pitt.
the European war.  When the European war broke out, he still flattered
himself that it would not be necessary
for this country to take either side. In
the spring of 1792, lie congratulated
parliament on the prospect of long and
profound peace, and proved his sincerity by proposing large remissions of
taxation.  Down to the end of that
year he continued to cherish the hope
that England might be able to preserve
neutrality.  But the passions which
raged on both sides of the Channel
were not to be restrained. The republicans who ruled France were inflamed
by a fanaticism resembling that of the
Mussulmans, who, with the Koran in
one hand and the sword in the other,
went forth, conquering and converting,
eastward to the Bay of Bengal, and
westward to the Pillars of Hercules.
The higher and middle classes of England were animated by a zeal not less




'William Pitt.        173
fiery than that of the Crusaders who
raised the cry of Deus vult at Clermont. The impulse which drove the
two nations to a collision was not to be
arrested by the abilities or by the authority of any single man. As Pitt
was in front of his fellows, and towered
high above them, he seemed to lead
them. But in fact he was violently
pushed on by them, and, had he held
back but a little more than he did,
would have been thrust out of their
way or trampled under their feet.
He yielded to the current: and from
that day his misfortunes began. The
truth is, that there were only two consistent courses before him. Since he did
not choose to oppose himself, side by
side with Fox, to the public feeling, he
should have taken the advice of Burke,
and should have availed himself of that
feeling to the full extent. If it was
impossible to preserve peace, he should




1*74      William Pitt.
have adopted the only policy which
could lead to victory. IHe should have
proclaimed a Holy War for religion, morality, property, order, public law, and
should have thus opposed to the Jacobins an energy equal to their own. Unhappily he tried to find a middle path;
and he found one which united all that
was worst in both extremes. HIe went to
war: but he would not understand the
peculiar character of that war. He
was obstinately blind to the plain fact,
that he was contending against a state
which was also a sect; and that the
new  quarrel between England and
France, was of quite a different kind
from the old quarrels about colonies in
America and fortresses in the Netherlands. He had to combat frantic enthusiasm, boundless ambition, restless
activity, the wildest and most audacious
spirit of innovation; and he acted as if
he had to deal with the harlots and




William  Pitt.         175
fops of the old court at Versailles, with
Madame de Pompadour and the Abbe
de Bernis.  It was pitiable to hear
him, year after year, proving to an admiring audience that the wicked republic was exhausted, that she could
not hold out, that her credit was gone,
that her assignats were  not worth
more than the paper of which they
were made; as if credit was necessary
to a government of which the principle was rapine, as if Alboin could not
turn Italy into a desert till he had negotiated a loan at five per cent., as if
the exchequer bills of Attila had been
at par. It was impossible that a man
who so completely mistook the nature
of a contest could carry on that contest
successfully. Great as Pitt's abilities
were, his military administration was
that of a driveller. He was, at the
head of a nation engaged in a struggle
for life and death, of a nation eminently




176       William Pitt.
distinguished by all the physical and
all the moral qualities which make excellent soldiers. The resources at his
command were unlimited.  The parliament was even more ready to grant
him  men and money than he was to
ask for them. In such an emergency,
and with such means, such a statesman
as Richelieu, as Louvois, as Chatham,
as Wellesley, would have created in a
few months one of the finest armies in
the world, and would soon have discovered and brought forward generals
worthy to command such an army.
Germany might have been saved by
another Blenheim; Flanders recovered
by another Ramlilies; another Poitiers
might have delivered the Royalist and
Catholic provinces of France from a
yoke which they abhorred, and might
have spread terror even to the barriers
of Paris. But the fact is, that, after
eight years of war, after a vast destruc



William  Pitt.         17
tion of life, after an expenditure of
wealth far exceeding the expenditure
of the American war, of the Seven
Years' War, of the war of the Austrian
Succession, and of the war of the
Spanish Succession united, the English
army, under Pitt, was the laughingstock of all Europe. It could not boast
of one single brilliant exploit. It had
never shown itself on the continent but
to be beaten, chased, forced to re-embark, or forced to capitulate. To take
some sugar island in the West Indies,
to scatter some mob of half naked Irish
peasants, such were the most splendid
victories won by the British troops under Pitt's auspices.
The English navy no mismanagement could ruin. But during a long
period whatever mismanagement could
do was done. The Earl of Chatham,
without a single qualification for high
public trust, was made, by fraternal
12




178       William Pitt.
partiality, first lord of the admiralty,
and was kept in that great post during
two years of a war in which the very
existence of the state depended on the
efficiency of the fleet. He continued
to doze away and trifle away the time
which ought to have been devoted to
the public service, till the whole mercantile body, though generally disposed
to support the government, complained
bitterly that our flag gave no protection to our trade. Fortunately he was
succeeded by George Earl Spencer,
one of those chiefs of the Whig party
who, in the great schism caused by the
French Revolution, had followed Burke.
Lord Spencer, though inferior to many
of his colleagues as an orator, was decidedly the best administrator among
them. To him it was owing that a long
and gloomy succession of days of fastin-g, and, most emphatically, of humiliation, was interrupted, twice in the




William Pitt.         179
short space of eleven months, by days
of thanksgiving for great victories.
It may seem paradoxical to say that
the incapacity which Pitt showed in all
that related to the conduct of the war
is, in some sense, the most decisive
proof that he was a man of very extraordinary abilities. Yet this is the
simple truth. For assuredly one-tenth
part of his errors and disasters would
have been fatal to the power and influence of any minister who had not possessed, in the highest degree, the talents of a parliamentary leader. While
his schemes were confounded, while his
predictions were falsified, while the
coalitions which he had labored to form
were falling to pieces, while the expeditions which he had sent forth at enormous cost were ending in rout and disgrace, while the enemy against whom
he was feebly contending was subjugating Flanders and Brabant, the elec



180       William Pitt.
torate of Mentz and the electorate of
Treves, Holland, Piedmont, Liguria,
Lombardy, his authority over the House
of Commons was constantly becoming
more and more absolute. There was
his empire. There were his victories,
his Lodi and his Arcola, his Rivoli and
his Marengo. If some great misfortune,
a pitched battle lost by the allies, the
annexation of a new department to the
French republic, a sanguinary insurrection in Ireland, a mutiny in the fleet,
a panic in the city, a run on the bank,
had spread dismay through the ranks
of his majority, that dismay lasted only
till he rose from  the treasury bench,
drew up his haughty head, stretched
his arm with commanding gesture, and
poured forth, in deep and sonorous
tones, the lofty language of inextinguishable hope and inflexible resolution. Thus, through a long and calamitous period, every disaster that hap



WTilliam Pitt.        181
pened  without the walls of parliament was regularly followed by a triumph within them. At length he had
no longer an opposition to encounter.
Of the great party which had contended against him  during the first eight
years of his administration, more than
one half now marched under his standard, with his old competitor the Duke
of Portland at their head; and the rest
had, after many vain struggles, quitted
the field in despair. Fox had retired
to the shades of St. Anne's Hill, and
had there found, in  the society of
fiends whom no vicissitude could estrange from him, of a woman whom he
tenderly loved, and of the illustrious
dead of Athens, of Rome, and of Florence, ample compensation for all the
misfortunes of his public life. Session
followed session with scarcely a single
division. In the eventful year 1799,
the largest minority that could be




182       WTillizam  Pitt.
mustered against the government was
twenty-five.
In Pitt's domestic policy there was
at this time assuredly no, want of vigor.
While he offered to French Jacobinism
a resistance so feeble that it only encouraged the evil which he wished to
suppress, he put down English Jacobinism with a strong hand. The habeas
corpus act was repeatedly suspended.
Public meetings were placed under
severe restraints. The government obtained from parliament power to send
out of the country aliens who were suspected of evil designs; and that power
was not suffered to be idle.  Writers
Nwho propounded doctrines adverse to
monarchy and aristocracy, were proscribed and punished without mercy.
It was hardly safe for a republican to
avow his political creed over his beefsteak and his bottle of port at a chophouse. The old laws of Scotland against




WVilliamn Pitt.        183
sedition, laws which were considered
by Englishmen as barbarous, and which
a succession of governments had suffered to rust, were now furbished up
and sharpened anew. Men of cultivated minds and polished  manners
were, for offences which at Westminster would have been treated as mere
misdemeanors, sent to herd with felons at Botany Bay. Some reformers,
whose opinions were extravagant, and
whose language was intemperate, but
who had never dreamed of subverting
the government by physical force, were
indicted for high treason, and were
saved from  the gallows only by the
righteous verdicts of juries. This severity was at the time loudly applauded
by alarmists whom fear had made cruel,
but will be seen in a very different
light by posterity. The truth is, that
the Englishmen who wished for a revolution were, even in number, not for



'184        William Pitt.
midable, and, in every thing but number, a faction utterly contemptible, without arms, or funds, or plans, or organization, or leader. There can be no
doubt that Pitt, strong as he was in tie
support of the great body of the nation,
might easily have repressed the turbulence of the discontented minority by
firmly yet temperately enforcing the
ordinary law.   Whatever vigor he
showed during this unfortunate part of
his life, was vigor out of place and
season.  He was all feebleness and
languor in his conflict with the foreign
enemy who was really to be dreaded,
and reserved all his energy and resolution for the domestic enemy, who
might safely have been despised.
One part only of Pitt's conduct during the last eight years of the eighteenth
century deserves high praise.  He was
the first English minister who formed
great designs for the benefit of Ireland.
-t




William  Pitt.         185
The manner in which the Roman Catholic population of that unfortunate country had been kept down during many
generations seemed to him unjust and
cruel; and it was scarcely possible for
a man of his abilities not to perceive
that, in a, contest against the Jacobins,
the Roman Catholics were his natural
allies. Had he been able to do all that
he wished, it is probable that a wise and
liberal policy would have averted the
rebellion of 1798. But the difficulties
which he encountered were great, perhaps insurmountable; and the Roman
Catholics were, rather by his misfortune
than by his fault, thrown into the hands
of the Jacobins.  There was a third
great rising of the Irishry against the
Englishry, a rising not less formidable
than the risings of 1641 and 1689. The
Englishry remained victorious; and it
was necessary for Pitt, as it had been
necessary for Oliver Cromwell and




186       William Pitt.
William of Orange before him, to consider how the victory should be used.
It is only just to his memory to say
that he formed a scheme of policy, so
grand and so simple, so righteous'and
so humane, that it would alone entitle
him to a high place among statesmen.
He determined to make Ireland one
kingdom  with England, and, at the
sme time, to relieve the Roman Catholic laity from civil disabilities, and
to grant a public maintenance to the
Roman Catholic clergy. Had he been
able to carry these noble designs into
effect, the Union would have been a
Union indeed. It would have been
inseparably associated in the minds of
the great majority of Irishmen with
civil and religious freedom; and the
old parliament in College Green would
have been regretted only by a small
knot of discarded jobbers and oppressors, and would have been remember



William Pitt.         187
ed by the body of the nation with the
loathing and contempt due to the most
tyrannical and the most corrupt assembly, that had ever sat in Europe.
But Pitt could execute only one half
of what he had projected.  HIe succeeded in obtaining the consent of the
parliaments of both kingdoms to the
Union: but that reconciliation of races
and sects, without which the Union
could exist only in name, was not accomplished. He was well aware that
he was likely to find difficulties in the
closet. But he flattered himself that,
by cautious and dexterous management,
those difficulties might be overcome.
Unhappily, there were traitors and sycophants in high place, who did not
suffer him  to take his own time and
his own way, but prematurely disclosed
his scheme to the King, and disclosed
it in the manner most likely to irritate
and alarm a weak and diseased mind.




188        William  Pitt.
His Majesty absurdly imagined that
his coronation oath bound him to refuse
his assent to any bill for relieving Roman Catholics from  civil disabilities.
To argue with him  was impossible.
Dundas tried to explain the matter, but
was told to keep his Scotch metaphysics
to himself. Pitt, and Pitt's ablest colleagues, resigned their offices. It was
necessary that the King should make a
new arrangement.  But by this time
his anger and distress had brought back
the malady which had, many years before, incapacitated him for the discharge
of his functions. He actually assembled
his family, read the Coronation oath to
them, and told them that, if he broke
it, the Crown would immediately pass
to the House of Savoy.  It was not
until after an interregnumn of several
weeks that he regained the full use of
his small faculties, and that a ministry after his own heart was at length
formed.




William Pitt.          189
The materials out of which he had
to construct a government were neither solid nor splendid. To that party,
weak in numbers, but strong in every
kind of talent, which was hostile to
the domestic and foreign policy of his
late advisers, he could not have recourse. For that party, while it differed
from his late advisers on every point
on which they had been honored with
his approbation, cordially agreed with
them as to the single matterwhich had
brought on them his displeasure. All
that was left to him was to call up the
rear rank of the old ministry to form
the front rank of a new ministry. In
an age pre-eminently fruitful of parliamentary talents, a cabinet was formed
containing hardly a single man who,
in parliamentary talents, could be considered as even of the second rate. The
most important offices in the state were
bestowed on decorous and laborious




190       William  Pitt.
mediocrity. Henry Addington was at
the head of the treasury.  He had
been an early, indeed a hereditary
friend of Pitt, and had by Pitt's influence been placed, while still a young
man, in the chair of the House of
Commons. He was universally admitted to have been the best speaker that
had sat in that chair since the retirement of Onslow. But nature had not
bestowed on him very vigorous faculties; and the highly respectable situation which he had long occupied with
honor, had rather unfitted than fitted
him for the discharge of his new duties. His business had been to bear
himself evenly  between  contending
factions. He had taken no part in the
war of words; and he had always been
addressed with marked deference by
the great orators who thundered against
each other from his right and fiom his
left. It was not strange that when, for




William Pitt.         191
the first time, he had to encounter keen
and vigorous antagonists, who dealt
hard blows without the smallest ceremony, he should have been awkward
and unready, or that the air of dignity
and authority which he had acquired
in his former post, and of which he
had not divested himself, should have
made his helplessness laughable and
pitiable. Nevertheless, during many
months, his power seemed to stand
firm. He was a favorite with the King,
whom he resembled in narrowness of
mind, and to whom he was more obsequious than Pitt had ever been. The
nation was put into high good humor
by a peace with France. The enthusiasm with which the upper and middle classes had rushed into the war had
spent itself. Jacobinism was no longer
formidable. Everywhere there was a
strong reaction against what was called
the atheistical and anarchical philoso



192       William Pitt.
phy of the eighteenth century. Bonaparte, now First Consul, was busy in
constructing out of the ruins of old
institutions a new ecclesiastical establishment and a new order of knighthood. That nothing less than the dominion of the whole civilized world
would satisfy his selfish ambition was
not yet suspected; nor did even wise
men see any reason to doubt that he
might be as safe a neighbor as any
prince of the House of Bourbon had
been. The treaty of Amiens was therefore hailed by the great body of the
English people with extravagant joy.
The popularity of the minister was for
the moment immense. His want of
parliamentary ability was, as yet, of
little consequence; for he had scarcely
any adversary to encounter. The old
opposition, delighted by the peace,
regarded him with favor. A new opposition had indeed been formed by




William Pitt.          193
some of the late ministers, and was led
by Grenville in the House of Lords,
and by Windham in the House of Commons. But the new opposition could
scarcely muster ten votes, and was
regarded with no favor by the country.
On Pitt the ministers relied as on their
firmest support. He had not, like some
of his colleagues, retired in anger. He
had expressed the greatest respect for
the conscientious scruple which had
taken pessession of the royal mind; and
he had promised his successors all the
help in his power. In private his advice
was at their service. In parliament he
took his seat on the bench behind them;
and, in more than one debate, defended
them with powers far superior to their
own. The King perfectly understood
the value of such assistance. On one
occasion, at the palace, he took the old
minister and the new minister aside.
" If we three," he said, " keep together,
all will go well."




194       William Pitt.
But it was hardly possible, human
nature being what it is, and, more especially, Pitt and Addington being
what they were, that this union should
be durable. Pitt, conscious of superior
powers, imagined that the place which
he had quitted was now occupied by a
mere puppet which he had set up, which
he was to govern while he suffered it
to remain, and which he was to fling
aside as soon as he wished to resumne
his old position. Nor was it long before he began to pine for the power
which he had relinquished.  He had
been so early raised to supreme authority in the state, and had enjoyed that
authority so long, that it had become
necessary to him. In retirement his
days passed heavily. He could not, like
Fox, forget the pleasures and cares of
ambition in the company of Euripides
or Herodotus. Pride restrained him
from intimating, even to his dearest




William  Pitt.        195
friends, that he wished to be again
minister. But he thought it strange,
almost ungrateful, that his wish had
not been divined, that it had not been
anticipated, by one whom he regarded
as his deputy.
Addington, on the other hand, was
by no means inclined to descend from
his high position.  He was, indeed,
under a delusion much resembling that
of Abon Hassan in the Arabian tale.
His brain was turned by his short and
unreal caliphate. He took his elevation quite seriously, attributed it to his
own merit, and considered himself as
one of the great triumvirate of English
statesmen, as worthy to make a third
with Pitt and Fox.
Such being the feelings of the late
minister and of the present minister, a
rupture was inevitable; and there was
no want of persons bent'on making
that  rupture  speedy  and  violent.




196       William Pitt.
Some of these persons wounded Addington's pride by representing him as
a lackey, sent to keep a place on the
treasury bench till his master should
find it convenient to come.  Others
took every opportunity of praising him
at Pitt's expense. Pitt had waged a
long, a bloody, a costly, an unsuccessful war. Addington had made peace.
Pitt had suspended the constitutional
liberties of Englishmen. Under Addington those liberties were again enjoyed. Pitt had wasted the public resources. Addington was carefully nursing them. It was sometimes but too
evident that these compliments were
not unpleasing to Addington. Pitt became cold and reserved. During many
months he remained at a distance from
London.  Meanwhile his most intimate friends, in spite of his declarations that he made no complaint, and
that he had no wish for office, exerted




William Pitt.          197
themselves to effect a change of ministry. His favorite disciple, George
Canning, young, ardent, ambitious,
with great powers and great virtues,
but with a temper too restless and a
wit too satirical for his own happiness,
was  indefatigable.  He  spoke; he
wrote; lie intrigued; he tried to induce
a large number of the supporters of the
government to sign a round robin desiring a change; he made game of Addington and of Addington's relations in a
succession of lively pasquinades. The
minister's partisans retorted with equal
acrimony, if not with equal vivacity.
Pitt could keep out of the affray only by
keeping out of politics altogether; and
this it soon became impossible for him to
do. HIad Napoleon, content with the first
place among the sovereigns of the Continent, and with a military reputation surpassing that of Marlborough or of Tnrenne, devoted himself to the noble task




198       William Pitt.
of making France happy by mild administration and wise legislation, our country might have long continued to tolerate a government of fair intentions
and feeble abilities. Unhappily, the
treaty of Amiens had scarcely been
signed, when the restless ambition and
the insupportable insolence of the First
Consul convinced the great body of
the English people that the peace, so eagerly welcomed, was only a precarious
armistice. As it became clearer and
clearer that a war for the dignity, the
independence, the very existence of the
nation was at hand, men looked with
increasing uneasiness on the weak and
languid cabinet, which would have to
contend against an enemy who united
more than the power of Lewis the
Great to more than the genius of Frederick the Great. It is true that Addington might easily have been a better
war minister than Pitt, and could not




William Pitt.         199
possibly have been a worse. But Pitt
had cast a spell on the public mind.
The eloquence, the judgment, the calm
and disdainful firmness which he had,
during many years, displayed in parliament, deluded the world into the
belief that he must be eminently qualified to superintend every department of
politics; and they imagined, even after
the miserable failures of Dunkirk, of
Quiberon, and of the Helder, that he
was the only statesman who could cope
with Bonaparte. This feeling was nowhere stronger than among Addington's own colleagues.  The pressure
put on him  was so strong, that he
could not help yielding to it: yet,
even in yielding, he showed how far
he was from knowing his own place.
His first proposition was, that some insignificant nobleman should be first
lord of the treasury and nominal head
of the administration, and that the real




200        William  Pitt.
power should be divided between Pitt
and himself, who were to be secretaries
of state. Pitt, as might have been expected, refused even to discuss such a
scheme, and talked of it with bitter
mirth.   " Which  secretaryship  was
offered to you? " his friend Wilberforce asked.  " Really," said Pitt, "I
had not the curiosity to inquire."  Addington was frightened into bidding
higher. He offered to resign the treasury to Pitt, on condition that there
should be no extensive change in the
government.  But Pitt would listen to
no such terms. Then came a dispute
such as often arises after negotiations
orally conducted, even when the negotiators are men of strict honor.  Pitt
gave one account of what had passed;
Addington gave another; and though
the discrepancies were not such as
necessarily iinplied any intentional violation of truth on either side, both
were greatly exasperated.




William Pitt.        201
Meanwhile the quarrel with the
First Consul had come to a crisis. On
the 16th of May 1803, the King sent a
message calling on the House of Commons to support him in withstanding
the ambitious and encroaching policy
of France; and on the 22d, the House
took the message into consideration.
Pitt had now been living many
months in retirement. There had been
a general election since he had spoken
in parliament, and there were two
hundred members who  had  never
heard him.  It was known that on
this occasion he would be in his place,
and curiosity was wound up to the
highest point.  Unfortunately, the
short-hand  writers were, in  consequence of some mistake, shut out on
that day from the gallery, so that the
newspapers contained  only a very
meagre report of the proceedings.
But several accounts of what passed




202       William Pitt.
are extant; and of those accounts, the
most interesting is contained in an unpublished  letter written  by a very
young member, John William Ward,
afterwards Earl of Dudley.  When
Pitt rose, he was received with loud
cheering;  At every  pause  in  his
speech there was a burst of applause.
The peroration is said to have been
one of the most animated and magnificent ever heard in parliament. " Pitt's
speech," Fox wrote a few days later,
"was admired very much, and very
justly. I think it was the best he ever
made in that style." The debate was
adjourned; and on the second night
Fox replied in an oration which, as the
most zealous Pittites were forced to acknowledge, left the palm of eloquence
doubtful. Addington made a pitiable
appearance between the two great rivals; and it was' observed that Pitt,
while exhorting the Commons to stand




William Pitt.           203
resolutely by the executive government against France, said not a word
indicating esteem or friendship for the
prime minister.
War was speedily declared.  The
First Consul threatened to invade England at the head of the conquerors of
Belgium and Italy, and formed a great
camp near the Straits of Dover. On
the other side of those Straits the whole
population of our island was ready to
rise up as one man in defence of the
soil. At this conjuncture, as at some
other great conjunctures in our history,
the conjuncture of 1660, for example,
and the conjuncture of 1688, there was
a general disposition  among  honest
and patriotic men to forget old quarrels, and to regard as a friend every
person who was ready, in the existing
emergency, to do his part towards the
saving of the state. A coalition of all
the first men in the country would, at




204       tWilliam Pitt.
that moment, have been as popular as
the coalition of 1783 had been unpopular. Alone in the kingdom the King
looked with perfect complacency on a
cabinet in which no man superior to
himself in genius was to be found, and
was so far foml being willing to admit
all his ablest subjects to office, that he
was bent on excluding them all.
A few months passed before the different parties which agreed in regarding the government with dislike and
contempt, came to an understanding
with each other. But in the spring
of 1804, it became evident that the
weakest of ministries would have to defend itself against the strongest of oppositions; an opposition made up of
three oppositions, each of which would,
separately, have been formidable from
ability, and which, when united, were
also formidable from  number.  The
party which had opposed the peace,




William Pitt.         205
headed by Grenville and Windham,
and the party which had opposed the
renewal of the war, headed by Fox,
concurred in thinking that the men
now in power were incapable of either
making a good peace or waging a vigorous war. Pitt had, in 1802, spoken
for peace against the party of Grenville, and had, in 1803, spoken for war
against the party of Fox. But of the
capacity of the cabinet, and especially
of its chief, for the conduct of great
affairs, he thought as meanly as either
Fox  or Grenville.  Questions were
easily found on which all the enemies
of the government could act cordially
together. The unfortunate first lord of
the treasury, who had, during the earlier months of his administration, been
supported by Pitt on one side, and by
Fox on the other, now had to answer
Pitt, and to be answered by Fox. Two
sharp debates, followed by close divi



206        Wiilliam Pitt.
sions, made him weary of his post. It
was known, too, that the upper house
was even more hostile to him than the
lower, that the Scotch representative
peers wavered, that there were signs of
mutiny among the bishops.  In the
cabinet itself there was discord, and,
worse than discord, treachery. It was
necessary to give way: the ministry
was dissolved; and the task of forming a government was intrusted to
Pitt.
Pitt was of opinion that there was
now an opportunity, such as had never
before offered itself, and such as might
never offer itself again, of uniting in
the public service, on honorable terms,
all the eminent talents of the kingdom.
The passions to which the French Revolution had given birth were extinct.
The madness of the innovator and the
madness of the alarmist had alike had
their day.  Jacobinism  and Anti-ja



William Pitt.         207
cobinism had gone out of fashion together.  The most liberal statesman
did not think that season propitious for
schemes of parliamentary reform; and
the most conservative statesman could
not pretend that there was any occasion
for gagging bills and suspensions of the.
habeas corpus act. The great struggle
for independence and national honor
occupied all minds; and those who
were agreed as to the duty of maintaining that struggle with vigor, might well
postpone to a more convenient time all
disputes about matters comparatively
unimportant. Strongly impressed by
these considerations, Pitt wished to
form a ministry including all the first
men in the country. The treasury he
reserved for himself; and to Fox he proposed to assign a share of power little
inferior to his own.
The plan was excellent; but the
King would not hear of it. Dull, ob



208        William  Pitt.
stinate, unforgiving, and, at that time,
half mad, he positively refused to admit Fox into his service. Anybody
else, even men who had gone as far
as Fox, or further than Fox, in what
his Majesty considered as Jacobinism,
Sheridan, Grey, Erskine, should  be
graciously received; but Fox never.
During several hours Pitt labored in
vain  to reason  down this senseless
antipathy. That he was perfectly sincere there can be no doubt; but it was
not enough to be sincere; he should
have been resolute.  Had he declared
himself determined not to take office
without Fox, the royal obstinacy would
have given way, as it gave way, a few
months later, when opposed to the immutable resolution of Lord Grenville.
In an evil hour Pitt yielded.  He flattered  himself with  the hope that,
though he consented to forego the aid
of his illustrious rival, there would still




William Pitt.          209
remain ample materials for the formation of an efficient ministry. That
hope was cruelly disappointed. Fox
entreated his friends to leave personal
considerations out of the question, and
declared that he would support, with
the utmost cordiality, an efficient and
patriotic ministry from which he should
be himself excluded.  Not only his
friends, however, but Grenville, and
Grenville's adherents, answered with
one voice, that the question was not
personal; that a great constitutional
principle was at stake, and that they
would not take office while a man eminently qualified to render service to
the commonwealth was placed under a
ban merely because he was disliked at
court. All that was left to Pitt was to
construct a government out of the
wreck of Addington's feeble administration. The small circle of his personal
retainers furnished him  with a very




210       William Pitt.
few useful assistants, particularly Dundas, who had been created Viscount
Melville, Lord Harrowby, and Canning.
Such was the inauspicious manner
in which Pitt entered on his second administration. The whole history of that
administration was of a piece with the
commencement. Almost every month
brought some new disaster or disgrace.
To the war with France was soon added
a war with Spain. The opponents of
the minister were numerous, able, and
active. His most useful coadjutors he
soon lost. Sickness deprived him  of
the help of Lord Harrowby. It was
discovered that Lord Melville had been
guilty of highly culpable  laxity  in
transactions relating to public money.
Ie was censured by the House of
Conmmons, driven from office, ejected
from the privy council, and impeached
of high crimes and misdemeanors. The




William Pitt.          211
blow fell heavy on Pitt. It gave him,
he said in parliament, a deep pang;
and, as he uttered the word pang, his
lip  quivered; his voice shook; he
paused; and his hearers thought that
he was about to burst into tears. Such
tears shed by Eldon would have moved
nothing but laughter.  Shed by the
warm-hearted and open-hearted Fox,
they would have moved sympathy, but
would have caused no surprise. But a
tear from Pitt would have been something portentous. He suppressed his
emotion, however, and proceeded with
his usual majestic self-possession.
His difficulties compelled him to resort to various expedients. At one
time Addington was persuaded to accept office with a peerage; but he
brought no additional strength to the
government. Though he went through
the form of reconciliation, it was impossible for him to forget the past.




212        William  Pitt.
While he remained in place he was
jealous and punctilious; and he soon
retired again.  At another time Pitt
renewed his efforts to overcome his master's aversion to Fox; and it was rumored that the King's obstinacy was
gradually giving way. But, meanwhile,
it was impossible for the minister to
conceal from the public eye the decay
of his health and the constant anxiety
which gnawed at his heart.  His sleep
was broken.  His food ceased to nourish him. All who passed him  in the
park, all who had interviews with him
in Downing Street, saw misery written
in his face. The peculiar look which
he wore during the last months of his
life was often pathetically described by
Wilberforce, who used to call it the
Austerlitz look.
Still the vigor of Pitt's intellectual
faculties, and the intrepid haughtiness
of his spirit, remained unaltered. He




Wtilliam Pitt.        213
had staked every thing on a great
venture. lie had succeeded in forming another mighty coalition against
the French ascendency. The united
forces of Austria, Russia, and England
might, he hoped, oppose an insurmountable barrier to the ambition of the
common enemy. But the genius and
energy of Napoleon prevailed. While
the English troops were preparing to
embark for Germany, while the Russian troops were slowly coming up
from Poland, he, with rapidity unprecedented in modern war, moved a hundred thousand men from the shores of
the Ocean to the Black Forest, and
compelled a great Austrian army to
surrender at Ulm. To the first faint
rumors of this calamity Pitt would
give no credit. He was irritated by
the alarms of those around him. " Do
not believe a word of it," he said: " it
is all a fiction." The next day he




214       William Pitt.
received a Dutch newspaper containing the capitulation.  He knew  no
Dutch. It was Sunday; and the public offices were shut. He carried the
paper to Lord MIalmesbury, who had
been minister in Holland; and Lord
Malmesbury translated it. Pitt tried
to bear up, but the shock was too great;
and he went away with death in his
face.
The news of the battle of Trafalgar
arrived four days later, and seemed for
a moment to revive him. Forty-eight
hours after that most glorious and most
mournful of victories had been announced to the country came the Lord
Mayor's day; and Pitt dined at Guildhall.  His popularity had declined.
But on this occasion the multitude,
greatly excited by the recent tidings,
welcomed him  enthusiastically, took
off his horses in Cheapside, and drew
his carriage up King Street. When




FWilliam Pitt.        215
his health was drunk, he returned
thanks in two or three of those stately
sentences of which he had a boundless
command. Several of those who.heard
him laid up his words in their hearts;
for they were the last words that he
ever uttered in public: "Let us hope
that England, having saved herself by
her energy, may save Europe by her
example."
This was but a momentary rally.
Austerlitz soon completed what Ulhn
had begun. Early in December Pitt
had retired to Bath, in the hope that
he might there gather strength for the
approaching  session. While he was
languishing there on his sofa arrived
the news that a decisive battle had been
fought and lost in Moravia, that the coalition was dissolved, that the Continent
was at the feet of France. IHe sank
down under the blow. Ten days later,
he was so emaciated that his most inti



216        Willicam _Pitt.
mate friends hardly knew  him. He
came up from Bath by slow journeys,
and, on the 11th of January, 1806,
reached his villa at Putney. Parliament was to meet on the 21st. On the
20th was to be the parliamentary dinner, at the house of the first lord of
the treasury, in Downing Street; and
the cards were already issued. But
the days of the great minister were
numbered. The only chance for his
life, and that a very slight chance, was,
that he should resign his office, and
pass some months in profound repose.
His colleagues paid him  very short
visits, and carefully avoided political
conversation. But his spirit, long accustomed to dominion, could not, even
in  that extremity, relinquish  hopes
which everybody but himself perceived to be vain. On the day on which
he was carried into his bed-room at
Putney, the Marquess Wellesley, whom




William Pitt.         217
he had long loved, whom he had sent
to govern India, and whose administration had been eminently able, energetic, and successful, arrived il London
after an absence of eight years. The
friends saw  each  other once more.
There was an  affectionate meeting,
and a last parting.  That it was a
last parting, Pitt did not seem to be
aware. He fancied himself to be recovering, talked on varic as subjects
cheerfully, and  with  an  unclouded
mind, and pronounced a warm and discerning eulogium  on the Marquess's
brother Arthur.  " I never," he said,
";met with  any military man  with
whom  it was so satisfactory to converse."  The excitement and exertion
of this interview were too much for the
sick  man.  He fainted  away; and
Lord Wellesley left the house, convinced  that the close was fast approaching.




218       William Pitt.
And now members of parliament
were fast coming up to London. The
chiefs of the opposition met for the purpose of considering the course to be
taken on the first day of the session.
It was easy to guess what would be
the language of the King's speech, and
of the address which would be moved
in answer to that speech. An amendment condemning the policy of the
government had been prepared, and
was to have been proposed in the
House of Commons by Lord Henry
Petty, a young nobleman who had already won for himself that place in the
esteem of his country which, after the
lapse of more than half a century, he
still retains. He was unwilling, however, to come forward as the accuser
of one who was incapable of defending
himself.  Lord Grenville, who had
been informed of Pitt's state by Lord
Wellesley, and had been deeply affected




William Pitt.         219
by it, earnestly recommended forbearance; and Fox, with characteristic generosity and good nature, gave his voice
against attacking  his now  helpless
rival.  " Sunt lacrymse  reruni,  he
said,   et mentem mortalia tangunt."
On the first day, therefore, there was no
debate. It was rumored that evening
that Pitt was better.  But on the following morning his physicians pronounced that there were no hopes. The
commanding faculties of which he had
been too proud were begining to fail.
His old tutor and friend, the Bishop of
Lincoln, informed him  of his danger,
and gave such religious advice and
consolation as a confused and obscured mind could receive. Stories were
told of devout sentiments fervently
uttered by the dying man.  But these
stories found no credit with any body
who knew  him.  Wilberforce  pronounced it impossible that they could




-220'William Pitt.
be true;   Pitt," he added,   was a
man who said less than he thought on
such topics."  It was asserted in many
after-dinner speeches, Grub Street elegies, and academic prize poems and
prize declamations, that the great minister died exclaiming, " Oh, my country!  This is a fable; but it is true
that the last words which he uttered,
while he knew what he said, were broken exclamations about the alarming
state of public affairs. He ceased to
breathe on the morning of the 23d of
January 1806, the twenty-fifth anniversary of the day in which he first took
his seat in parliament. He was in his
forty-seventh year, and had been, during near nineteen years, first lord of
the treasury, and undisputed chief of
the administration. Since parliamentary government was established  in
England, no  English  statesman has
held supreme power so long. Wal



William  Pitt.        221
pole, it is true, was first lord of the
treasury  during  more than  twenty
years, but it was not till Walpole had
been some time first lord of the treasury that he could be properly called
prime minister.
It was moved in the House of Commons that Pitt should be honored with
a public funeral, and a monument.
The motion was opposed by Fox in a
speech which deserves to be studied as
a model of good taste and good feeling.
The task was the most invidious that
ever an orator undertook; but it was
performed with a humanity and delicacy which  were warmly acknowledged by the mourning friends of him
who was gone. The motion was carried
by 288 votes to 89.
The 22d of February was fixed for
the funeral. The corpse having lain
in state during two days in the Painted
Chamber, was borne with great pomp




222        William Pitt.
to the northern transept of the Abbey.
A splendid train of princes, nobles,
bishops and privy councillors followed.
The grave of Pitt had been made near
to the spot where his great father lay,
near also to the spot where his great
rival was soon to lie. The sadness of the
assistants was beyond that of ordinary
mourners.  For he whom they were
committing to the dust, had died of
sorrows and anxieties of which none
of the survivors could be altogether
without a share.  Wilberforce, who
carried the banner before the hearse,
described  the awful ceremony with
deep feeling. As the coffin descended into the earth, he said, the eagle
face of Chatham fiom above seemed to
look down with consternation into the
dark house which was receiving all that
remained of so much power and glory.
All parties in the House of Commons readily concurred in voting forty




William Pitt.          223
thousand pounds to satisfy the demands
of Pitt's creditors. Some of his admirers seemed to consider the magnitude of his embarrassments as a circumstance highly honorable to him; but
men of sense will probably be of a different opinion.  It is far better, no
doubt, that a great minister should
carry his contempt of money to excess,
than that he should contaminate his
hands with unlawful gain. But it is
neither right nor becoming in a man
to whom  the public has given an income more than sufficient for his comfort and dignity, to bequeath to that
public a great debt, the effect of mere
negligence and profusion.  As first
lord of the treasury and chancellor
of the exchequer, Pitt never had less
than six thousand a year, besides an
excellent house.  In  1792 he  was
forced by his royal master's friendly
importunity to accept for life the office




224      JWilliam Pitt.
of warden of the Cinque Ports, with
near four thousand a year more.  tie
had neither wife nor child: he had no
needy relations: he had no expensive
tastes: he had no long election bills.
Had he given but a quarter of an hour
a week to the regulation of his household, he would have kept his expenditure within bounds. Or, if he could
not spare even a quarter of an hour a
week for that purpose, he had numerous friends, excellent men of business,
who would have been proud to act as
his stewards.  One of those friends,
the chief of a great commercial house
in the city, made an attempt to put
the establishment in Downing Street to
rights; but in vain. He found that
the waste of the servants' hall was almost fabulous. The quantity of butcher's meat charged in the bills was nine
hundredweight a week. The consumption of poultry, of fish, of tea, was in




Willianm  Pitt.        225
proportion.  The character of Pitt
would have stood higher if, with the
disinterestedness of Pericles and of
De Witt, he had united their dignified
frugality.
The memory of Pitt has been assailed, times innumerable, often justly,
often  unjustly; but it has suffered
much less from his assailants than from
his eulogists. For, during many years,
his name was the rallying cry of a class
of men with whom, at one of those terrible conjunctures which confound all
ordinary distinctions, he was accidentally and temporarily connected, but to
whom, on almost all great questions of
principle, he  was diametrically opposed.  The haters of parliamentary
reform called themselves Pittites, not
choosing to remember that Pitt made
three motions for parliamentary reform, and that, though he thought that
such a reform  could, not safely  be




226        William Pitt.
made while the passions excited by
the French Revolution were raging,
he never uttered a word indicating
that he should not be prepared at a
more convenient season to bring the
question forward a fourth time. The
toast of Protestant ascendency was
drunk on Pitt's birthday by a set of
Pittites, who could not but be aware
that Pitt had resigned his office because  he could  not carry Catholic
emancipation.  The defenders of the
Test Act called themselves Pittites,
though they could not be ignorant that
Pitt had laid before George the Third
unanswerable reasons for abolishing
the Test Act. The enemies of free
trade called themselves Pittites, though
Pitt was far more deeply imbued with
the doctrines of Adam  Smith than
either Fox or Grey.  The very negrodrivers invoked  the  name  of Pitt,
whose eloquence was never more con



William Pitt.          227
spicuously displayed than  when he
spoke of the wrongs of the negro.
This mythical Pitt, who resembles the
genuine Pitt as little as the Charlemagne of Ariosto resembles the Charlemagne of Eginhard, has had his
day.  History will vindicate the real
man  from  calumny disguised under
the semblance of adulation, and will
exhibit him as what he was, a minister
of great talents, honest intentions, and
liberal opinions, pre-eminently qualifled, intellectually and morally, for the
part of a parliamentary leader, and
capable of administering  with  prudence and moderation the government
of a prosperous and tranquil country;
but unequal to surprising and terrible
emergencies, and liable, in such emergencies, to err gievously, both on the
side of weakness and on the side of
violence.