134 



CHATHAM 



CHATSWORTH 



1755, when Henry Fox (afterwards Lord Holland) 

 was made secretary of state, finding himself opposed 

 to the foreign policy of the new minister, Pitt 

 resigned office as paymaster. In the following 

 year, when the king, unwillingly acceding to 

 popular demands, had to dismiss Fox, Pitt became 

 nominally secretary of state, but was virtually 

 premier. He immediately began to put into exe- 

 cution his own plan of carrying on the war with 

 France, and inaugurating a brilliantly successful 

 foreign policy. He raised the militia and strength- 

 ened the naval power ; but the king's old enmity 

 and German predilections led him to oppose Pitt s 

 policy, who thereupon resigned office in April 1757, 

 but was recalled in June, in obedience to the loud 

 demands of the people. 



Now firmly established in power, Pitt's war 

 policy was characterised by unusual vigour and 

 sagacity. Success returned to the British arms. 

 French armies were beaten everywhere by Britain 

 and her allies in India, in Africa, in Canada, on 

 the Rhine and British fleets drove the few French 

 ships they did not capture or destroy from almost 

 every sea. But the prime mover of all these bril- 

 liant victories found himself compelled to resign 

 (1761), when, on the accession of George III., and 

 owing to the influence of Lord Bute, an attempt 

 was made to introduce a vacillating policy into 

 the government ; his immediate cause of resignation 

 being the refusal of the majority of the cabinet to 

 declare war with Spain, which Pitt, foreseeing as 

 imminent, wished to commence before the Spaniards 

 were thoroughly prepared. As some recompense 

 for his important services Pitt received a pension of 

 3000 a year ; and his wife, sister of George Gren- 

 ville, was created Baroness Chatham. Until 1766 

 Pitt remained out of office, not ottering a factious 

 opposition to government, but employing all his 

 eloquence to defeat some of its most obnoxious 

 measures. In that year he received the royal com- 

 mands to form a ministry. He undertook the task, 

 choosing for himself to the astonishment of the 

 public, and the sacrifice, to a considerable extent, 

 of his popularity the almost sinecure office of 

 Privy Seal, with a seat in the House of Lords as 

 Viscount Pitt and Earl of Chatham. Ill-health 

 prevented Chatham from taking any active part in 

 this ministry, of which he was nominally the head, 

 and which was weak and embarrassed throughout, 

 and he resigned in 1768, to hold office no more. 

 He did not, however, cease to take an interest in 

 public affairs. He spoke strongly against the 

 arbitrary and harsh policy of government towards 

 the American colonies, and warmly urged an 

 amicable settlement of the differences. But when, 

 America having entered into treaty with France, 

 it was proposed by the Duke of Richmond to re- 

 move the ministers, and make peace on any terms, 

 ill though he was, Chatham came down to the 

 House of Lords. In a powerful address he pro- 

 tested against the implied prostration of Britain 

 before the throne of the Bourbons, and declared 

 that war, with whatever issue, would be prefer- 

 able to the proposed terms of peace. This 

 address secured a majority against the motion, 

 and the war was continued. But it was the 

 orator's last effort ; for, exhausted by speaking, 

 on rising again to reply to a query addressed 

 to him by the Duke of Richmond, his physical 

 powers suddenly failed, he fell back into the 

 arms of his friends, and was carried by his second 

 son, William, less than five years later him- 

 self prime-minister, from the House. He died 

 May 11, 1778. He was honoured with a public 

 funeral in Westminster Abbey, where a statue was 

 also erected to his memory at the public expense ; 

 and in addition, government voted 20,000 to pay 

 his debts, and conferred a pension of 4000 a year 



on his descendants. Chatham's personal appear- 

 ance was dignified and imposing, and combined 

 with a voice of the most magnificent compass, 

 added greatly to the attractions of his oratory, 

 which was of the most powerful kind. It is said 

 that even his whispers were, when he pleased, dis- 

 tinctly heard outside the House in the lobby. His 

 upright and irreproachable character demanded the 

 admiration of his enemies ; but his att'ectedness 

 and haughtiness not unfrequently disgusted his 

 friends, and pride rather than principle seems to 

 have actuated his course at some important con- 

 junctures of his life. He had, however, an intense 

 love of country ; the grand object of his ambition 

 being to make his native land safe against all 

 contingencies, and powerful among nations. See 

 his Life by F. Thackeray (2 vols. 1827), and his 

 Correspondence (4 vols. 1838-40). 



Chatham Islands, a small group in the 

 Pacific, lying 360 miles E. of New Zealand, to 

 which they politically belong. They are the anti- 

 podes of Toulouse in France. There are three 

 islands of which the largest, Chatham Island, is 

 25 miles long and some rocky islets. Total area, 

 375 sq. m. ; population (1891) 459, of whom 148 

 are Maoris, and 40 Morioris or aborigines. The 

 Chatham Islands were discovered in 1791 by Lieu- 

 tenant Broughton, of the brig Chatham. A large 

 brackish lake occupies the interior of Chatham 

 Island, which is of volcanic origin and hilly. Stock- 

 rearing and seal-fishing are the chief industries, the 

 islanders having no fewer than 65,000 sheep and 

 about 500 cattle, with which they supply passing 

 whalers. Timber of any size is unknown, so that 

 the native canoe is merely wicker-work bound 

 together by cordage of indigenous flax. The Morioris 

 numbered 1200 in 1831, when 800 Maoris were 

 landed from New Zealand, by whom the former 

 were reduced to 90 in nine years' time. 



Chati, a small leopard- like cat, smaller than an 

 ocelot, found in South America. 



Chatillon, a town in the French department of 

 C6te d'Or, on the Seine, 49 miles NNW. of Dijon. 

 A congress of allied sovereigns was held here in 

 1814, from February 5 to March 19, and opened 

 fruitless negotiations with Napoleon respecting 

 conditions of peace. Pop. 5120. 



Chat MOSS, a bog in Lancashire, the largest 

 in England, 7 miles W. of Manchester, and 10 sq. 

 m. in extent. It is celebrated as having in 1793- 

 1800 been the scene of the first great and success- 

 ful efforts for the reclaiming of bogs, largely 

 through the instrumentality of Roscoe the nis- 

 torian, and in 1829 of one of George Stephenson's 

 great engineering triumphs in the construction of 

 the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. It is 

 very slightly elevated above the sea, and from 

 20 to 30 feet in depth. Stephenson laid branches 

 of trees and hedge-cuttings, and in the softest 

 places rude hurdles interwoven with heather, on 

 the natural surface of the ground, containing inter- 

 twined roots of heather and long grass ; a thin 

 layer of gravel was then spread above all, and on it 

 the sleepers, chairs, and rails were laid in the usual 

 manner. Drains were at the same time cut on 

 both sides of the line, and in the central part of the 

 moss a conduit was formed beneath the line of 

 railway of old tar-barrels placed end to end. Not- 

 withstanding difficulties which every one but him- 

 self deemed insuperable, Stephenson constructed 

 the portion of the line through Chat Moss at a 

 smaller expense than any other part of the railway. 



Chatrian. See ERCKMANN-CHATRIAN. 



ChatSWOrth, the magnificent seat of the Duke 

 of Devonshire, one of the most splendid private 

 mansions in England, is situated in Derbyshire, on 

 the Derwent, 25 miles N. by W. of Derby. The 



