p I 
nifter acceded, though on account of it he incurred much 
obloquy, and his popularity underwent a fevere trial. 
The allied army was now to be commanded by Ferdinand 
duke of Brunfwick, a general of the higheft reputation; 
the king of Prudia was to be enabled by a large fublidy 
to co-operate with all the eftedl to be expecled from his 
extraordinary talents; and thus a diversion might be 
given to the French force, which would render the Bri- 
tifh arms fuperior in all other quarters. The event 
proved the juftice of fuch expeditions ; and the years 
1758, 9, 60, and 61, were marked by a feries of fucceffes, 
interrupted almoft folely by the failure of fome expedi¬ 
tions to the coaft of France; but thefe ferved to keep that 
country in a ftate of alarm, and retaliate upon it the fear 
of invalion which had fo difgracefully depreffed England 
at the beginning of the war. At the end of that period 
the navy of France was nearly annihilated, and it had 
fcarcely a colony orfettlement left in any part of the world. 
In the mean time, however, a change in the crown had 
taken place ; the old king had died, and his late majefty, 
George III. had fucceeded to the throne. The confi¬ 
dential, but fecret, advifers of the new fovereign, looked 
to new meafures; they regarded with jealoufy the vaft af- 
cendancy of the minifter, then emphatically ftyled the 
great commoner, and his warlike fpirit was confidered as 
adverle to the re-eftabliffimentof peace, which now began 
to be a national wifli. A negotiation with France was 
commenced, which was rendered abortive by the inter¬ 
mixture of the concerns of Spain with thofe of this coun¬ 
try. This intermixture was refented in ftrong language 
by Mr. Pitt, who being, at that time, furniflted with in¬ 
telligence of the treaty of alliance between all the branches 
of the houfe of Bourbon, called the family comyadl, warmly 
urged in the cabinet an immediate commencement of 
hoftilities againft Spain. In this propofal he was over¬ 
ruled; and, after making ufe of the expreflion, “ that he 
would be no longer refponfible for meafures which he 
could not guide,” he refigned his poll in Odlober 1761, 
being accompanied in his retreat by lord Temple. His 
paft fervices were rewarded with a peerage conferred on 
his wife by theftyleof Baronefs Chatham,and an annuity 
of 3000I. for his own life and hers; and furely, if fimilar 
rewards are due to public fervices, it would not be eafy 
to find an inftance in which they were more juftly be¬ 
llowed, although they were made the ground of the mod 
malignant attacks upon his charadler. It is to be ob- 
ferved, that, though the other minifters chofe publicly to 
deny the danger of a quarrel with Spain, they found it 
neceffary three months afterwards to declare war againft 
that power. 
Mr. Pitt now returned to the condition of a private 
member of parliament, with his fortune fo little improved 
by the ports he had held, that his principal fupport was 
his annuity. He took no leading part in the fubfequent 
debates; but, when the preliminaries of peace, in 1762, 
came to be difeuffed in parliament, he feverely criticifed 
them in a long fpeech, though labouring under a very 
painful fit of the gout, on which account the houfe gave 
him the unprecedented indulgence of a chair. Not long 
after, the minifter, lord Bute, refigned his place to Mr. 
Grenville. In Auguft 1763 the earl of Egremont, one of 
the fecretaries of ftate, dying, an attempt was made by 
lord Bute to form a new adminiftration under the au- 
fpices of Mr. Pitt, and an interview took place between 
the latter and his majefty on the occafion. The nego¬ 
tiation feemed at firft to promife fnccefs, but from fome 
unknown caufe it went off, and the Bedford miniftry fuc¬ 
ceeded. When the queftion of general warrants was 
moved in 1764, Mr. Pitt fpoke againft their legality; 
and, during all the contefts between the prerogative of 
the crown and the liberty of the fubjedl which agitated 
the early part of this reign, he uniformly fupported the 
popular caufe. His highcharadlerforpatriotifm produced 
a confiderable accefiion to his fortune in 1765, on the 
Vou. XX. No. 1390. 
T T. 549 
death of firW. Pynfent of Somerfetlhire, who bequeathed 
him an eftate of 3000I. per annum. 
The diftradlions in the public councils caufed him 
again to be reforted to by the court in 1766, and the for¬ 
mation of a new miniftry was committed to him. In this 
arrangement he took to himfelf the office of privy-feal, 
and was railed to the peerage by the title of Earl of Chat¬ 
ham. On this occafion he was defected by his intimate 
afl'oeiate lord Temple; and the marquis of Rockingham 
with other men of great rank and influence refufed to 
join him, difgufted, it is thought, by the tone of fuperi- 
ority and haughtinefs which he was too much in the ha¬ 
bit of affuming. His adminiftration was therefore fluc¬ 
tuating and unfteady; his own influence gradually de¬ 
clined ; and, upon his refignation in 1768, he was fcarcely 
miffed by the public. 
The fire of his genius was, however, by no means ex- 
tindlj’and the political circumftances of the time foon 
after roufed him to exertions worthy of his former repu¬ 
tation. Having been reconciled with lord Temple, he 
again took a leading part in popular queftions, and began 
with a very fpirited attack in the houfe of lords upon the 
proceedings of the commons in the cafe of the Middle- 
fex eledlion. Lord Mansfield’s doftrine of libels was ano¬ 
ther fubjedl on which lord Chatham vigoroufly maintained 
the principles of liberty. But it was the unfortunate 
quarrel with the American colonies, commencing in 1773, 
that called forth all the remaining powers of this venera¬ 
ble patriot. He oppofed with all the force of his elo¬ 
quence, though in vain, every harffiand coercive meafure 
which haftened the fatal cataftrophe; he made motion 
after motion for clofing the breach after it had been ef- 
fedled, and he foretold with almoft prophetic accuracy 
the final refult. But he could not bear the idea of ac¬ 
knowledging the independence of America. His anxiety 
on this fubjedl was inexpreffible; it drove him from his 
bed in the midft of pain and ficknefs, urged him to a ve¬ 
hemence beyond that of his beft years, and at length was 
the immediate caufe of his diffolution. In April 1778, 
the duke of Richmond having moved an addrefs to his 
majefty, in which the neceffity of admitting the indepen¬ 
dence of America was infinuated, lord Chatham, who 
deprecated fuch a termination as the ruin of the Britiffi 
greatnefs, rofe from his feat with flownefs and difficulty, 
leaning on his crutches, and fupported under each arm by 
his friends. He took one hand from his crutch and 
raifed it, calling his eyes towards heaven, and faid, “I 
thank God that I have been enabled to come here this 
day, to perform my duty, and to Ipeak on a fubjedl which 
has fo deeply impreffed my mind. I am old and infirm ; 
have one foot, more than one foot, in the grave. I am ri- 
fen from my bed, to Hand up in the caufe of my country ! 
perhaps never again to fpeak in this houfe !” A prophecy 
too fatally fulfilled ! The purport of his fpeech is well 
known. The reverence, the attention, the ftillnefs of 
the houfe, was mod affecting: if any one had dropped an 
handkerchief, the noife would have been heard. At firft 
he fpoke in a very low and feeble tone : but, as he grew 
warm, his voice rofe, and was as harmonious as ever; 
oratorical and affedting, perhaps more than at any former 
period; both from his own fituation, and from the im¬ 
portance of the fubjedl on which he fpoke. He gave the 
whole hillory of the American war; of all the meafnres 
to which he had objected ; and all the evils to which he 
had propheiied in confequence of them; adding, at the 
end of each, “And fo it proved!” Lord Chatham’s 
plan, at this moment, for conciliation with America was 
no doubt, inefficient; the colonifts had parted the Ru¬ 
bicon, and in 1778 nothing fliort of independence would 
have fatisfied them ; but the dying earl thought otherwife, 
and he propofed to make a great impreffion upon France, 
to prevent her fending that affiftance to the Americans 
which he knew the French court had promifed; he re¬ 
commended alfo a treaty of union with the Americans; 
7 A and 
