1827.] 



the next four years the years of his 

 glory or at least till tbe accession of 

 George III. and the ill-boding influence of 

 Lord Bute, Pitt was the idol of the nation; 

 but, by the end of 1761, he was no longer 

 able to resist the overpowering weight of 

 the favourite. He retired on a pension of 

 3,000/., and a peerage for his wife. For a 

 month or two, he was assailed with every 

 species of virulence and malignity, and 

 upbraided with the cry of pensioner and 

 apostate; but the tide of public favour 

 quickly began to flow again ; and joining, 

 soon after, iq the mayor's procession, he 

 was hailed by the people with the warmest 

 tokens of affection and admiration, as the 

 man who alone deserved the confidence of 

 the nation, and could alone restore its re- 

 nown on the Continent. 



Lord Bute, in his turn, was soon com- 

 pelled to quit the helm, but reiained all 

 his private influence. He invited Fitt to 

 uegociate ; and interviews and discussions 

 with the king followed, which were, how. 

 ever, suddenly broken off; and the Bed- 

 ford and Grenville ministry, under the 

 secret auspices of Bute, was made up 

 quickly again to give way to the Rocking. 

 ham. The Rockingham ministry proved 

 unyielding and unaccommodating, and the 

 favourite had no better resource at last 

 than to suffer Mr. Pitt to come in on his 

 own terms. This advantage either resent- 

 ing the treatment he had met with, or 

 conscious of superior power and popula- 

 rity he did not use with much temper ; 

 he carried himself not only haughtily, but 

 at times insolently; and consulting his 

 caprices, or at least his predilections, more 

 than his own power, or their merits, he 

 filled his offices with a set of persons so 

 utterly unconnected and uncongenial with 

 each other, that even he, in his best 

 strength, would never have been able to 

 bind them together. He himself took the 

 privy seal, with the title of Earl of Chat- 

 ham. But his health utterly failed him, 

 and his spirits sank within him till, at 

 last, he was compelled to send the king a 

 verbal reply to a letter, that his majesty 

 must seek advice elsewhere, for he was no 

 longer able to give it. 



The Grafton and North administrations 

 followed in succession. Lord Chatham no 

 more returned to office ; but, on the reco- 

 very of better health, he resumed his par- 

 liamentary attendance, though with fre- 

 quent interruptions from relapses till his 

 death, and never was more eloquent, ener- 

 getic, respected, and truly respectable. 

 He took an active part against the Com- 

 mons in the caseof Wilkes, and condemned 

 the ministry with all the severity of his 

 invective for taxing America making a 

 very nice distinction, which could not hold, 

 between legislating and taxing. He in- 

 sisted upon the right of England to make 



Domc$t-k- and Forc.ign. 



187 



laws for her colonies, but not to impose 

 taxes ; and when the government charged 

 the Americans with aiming at indepen- 

 dence, he strenuously declared that, if it 

 were BO, he would strip the shirt from his 

 back to oppose them. Yet when that in. 

 dependence in 1776 was actually pro- 

 claimed, he was their apologist, and an 

 advocate for peace. But again, in 1778, 

 when America was supported by France, 

 we find him as resolute for prosecuting- 

 the war. This, indeed, was his last noble 

 effort : he fainted in the house from exer- 

 tion, and died a few weeks after. 



The author's attempts to apologize for 

 what he manifestly feels to be an alarming 

 inconsistency in Lord Chatham's conduct, 

 with regard to America, might very well 

 have been spared. To the ministry who im- 

 posed the tax he was in opposition. That 

 ministry taxed the unrepresented, and of 

 course offered an obvious point of attack. 

 The distinction he made between legislat- 

 ing and taxing was merely rhetorical it 

 served the purposes of debate ; or, if we 

 sappose him to have been convinced by 

 his own distinction, we may conclude his 

 sound sense soon detected the fallacy; and 

 as to his language on the subject of inde- 

 pendence, doubtless long before that inde- 

 pendence was proclaimed, he felt it to be 

 one thing to speak in anticipation of an 

 event, and another when that event actu- 

 ally occurs. But when the colonies linked 

 themselves with foreigners, they became 

 national enemies ; the honour and safety 

 of the country were at stake, and they 

 were at all events to be resisted. 



Of the general execution of the bio- 

 graphy, we have before spoken ; and we 

 may add, that, though there is little vigour 

 of thought in the work, the tone is gene- 

 rally fair and moderate, and the language 

 felicitous enough. Superfluous expressions 

 of loyalty occur, and here and there, with 

 excessive admiration of the Duke of Wel- 

 lington, and, in the dedication, of Mr. 

 Peel, who seems, in his estimate, at least 

 equal to Lord Chatham ; and now and then 

 appear devout phrases, just to mark the 

 writer's profession. Lord Chatham is said 

 to have died with the resignation which 

 is the peculiar characteristic of a Chris- 

 tian the mere language surely of habit, 

 or of want of observation. A disposition 

 frequently peeps out to give facts and 

 opinions the full weight and advantage of 

 his own authority. For instance, speaking 

 of Chatham's quick eye, and speculating 

 on his career had he pursued the profes- 

 sion of a soldier, he adds, in a note, " It 

 is my opinion, that no man who does not 

 possess eminent quickness of sight is ca- 

 pable of becoming a perfect general. 

 History shews many errors of the most 

 fatal description, which hare resulted from 

 a defect in this organ. Tallard from thi 



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