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Monthly Review of Liteiaiuie, 



teret, Pitt was equally violent ; but when 

 the Pelharas came in, we find him the si- 

 lent approver, or the talking advocate, of 

 the very measures which, under their pre- 

 decessors, he had so loudly condemned. 

 To what are we to attribute this change ? 

 To connexion, to be sure not patriotism. 

 The Pelhams were his friends j and soon 

 after, in 1746, they made him paymaster 

 of the forces. Mr.Thackeray labours hard, 

 if not to disprove the iuconsistence,at least 

 to justify it. What are the charges? 

 First, his acquiescing in the continental 

 measures the Hanover politics under 

 the Pelhams, which he denounced under 

 their predecessors. And what the defence? 

 Why, Mr. Pelham, it seems, himself disap- 

 proved of the system, but was unable to 

 prevent it. What better, then, could Mr. 

 Pitt do than follow so experienced a 

 guide? The second charge was his 

 anxiety though none of its objects had 

 been gained to put an end to the war, 

 into which he had been among the most 

 eager to precipitate the nation. The jus- 

 tification is, that we w r ere unable to enforce 

 our claims, just as they were ; and, there- 

 fore, it became a wise statesman to " ad- 

 vise peace." The third was his defence 

 of an extended standing army ; to which it 

 might perhapsjustly be said, that the peril 

 into which the nation had been recently 

 thrown by the invasion and rapid advance 

 of the Pretender's son, proved such an ex- 

 tension to be imperative. But the fact is, that 

 Mr. Pitt was of an ardent and impetuous 

 temperament, and of course often overshot 

 his mark. In arguing a point, he did not 

 always or rather never stop at the limit 

 of cool propriety ; and, therefore, all his 

 life long he was exposing himself to the 

 charge of verbal, and frequently of essen- 

 tial contradictions. 



As paymaster of the forces, he was pure 

 in his trust, and refused to soil his fingers 

 with the dirty tricks of office. It had 

 been usual often to the injury of the 

 public service to keep 100,000 on hand, 

 which sum was vested in government se- 

 curities, and put into the paymaster's 

 pocket 3,000 or 4,000 a year ; and, be- 

 sides this, he received one-half per cent, 

 upon subsidies. Of neither of these per- 

 quisites did Mr. Pitt avail himself; and 

 subsidies were pretty frequent and con- 

 $iderable in his time. 



On Pelham's death great confusion fol- 

 lowed. Pitt was personally offensive to 

 the king, and gained nothing immediately 

 by the changes. The Duke of Newcastle, 

 Pelham's brother, became chief; and Pitt, 

 whose temper could not long brook the 

 slight, quickly quarrelled with him, and 

 lost the paymastership. Now followed a 

 deadly struggle for superiority. Fox was 

 in office, but with little influence ; New- 

 castle's government was unfortunate the 



loss of Minorca filled the nation with com- 

 plaints. To escape the growing odium, 

 Fox suddenly threw up, and endeavoured 

 to effect a coalition with Pitt j but his 

 overtures were treated with contempt. 

 There was personal pique in this. Fox 

 had once meanly disavowed to the king 

 any communion with Pitt, and Pitt was 

 not a man who could forget it. Besides, 

 he knew Fox's close connexion with the 

 Duke of Cumberland, whose influence was 

 overpowering; and he must thus be sub- 

 ordinate ; and, at all events, he did not 

 choose to owe anything to Fox. Thus de- 

 serted by Fox and his friends, Newcastle 

 made an effort to unite again with Pitt ; 

 but with him also Pitt had his revenge to 

 take, and he haughtily and peremptorily 

 refused even to confer. The duke's re- 

 signation followed ; and, in November 

 1756, Mr. Pitt, with some of his friends, 

 came in, in spite of the king, secretary of 



But short was this his first triumph. He 

 was surrounded by difficulties. He had 

 neither the confidence of the crown, nor 

 the friendship of many of its servants ; nor 

 had he always temper to conciliate, though 

 his observance of the king was even ser- 

 vile ; when unable to stand, he refused 

 to be seated in the presence, and actually 

 kneeled on a stool while receiving the 

 king's communications. Nothing, how* 

 ever, daunted him neither the cruel tor- 

 ments of the gout, with which he was af- 

 flicted through the whole winter nor the 

 calumnies of Fox and Newcastle nor the 

 intrigues of his associates nor the aliena- 

 tion of the king nor the disastrous con- 

 dition of publio affairs. His first object 

 was to provide for the security of America ; 

 aud the measures he took were of the most 

 active and decisive kind. But Germany 

 was the main point ; and he was often twit- 

 ted with his German measures. Maria- 

 Theresa considered her interests betrayed 

 by England at the peace of Westphalia, 

 and was now in alliance with France, and 

 Prussia with England. The Duke of Cum- 

 berland's influence was silently paramount. 

 He was appointed commandcr-iti-chief of 

 the forces in Germany, and stipulated, on 

 his departure, for the dismissal of Pitt. 

 In April accordingly Pitt was dismissed, 

 but only within three little months to re- 

 turn in undisputed triumph. 



Never was minister more popular or per- 

 haps more deservedly so. The new ministry 

 was a coalition of Pitt, Newcastle, and 

 Fox; but Pitt had at last got the upper- 

 hand of his rivals and foes, and he kept 

 it for a time, though not without ihe full 

 exertion of his might. His was the master- 

 mind, and managed all : he even deprived 

 the Admiralty (Lord Anson) of the cor- 

 respondence. 



But we must draw in our sketch. For 



