fond of Walpole or Granville, but he had always been gracious and attentive to the minister, because no servant had been more useful to the crown. It was to Pelham, and to Pelham alone, that his Majesty had been indebted for smoothing over the various difficulties which had occurred during his reign-the hostility of the Tories to the payment of the Hanoverian troops, the jealousy with which the favouritism of the throne had been regarded, the dislike which the royal mind entertained towards Newcastle, and which Newcastle passed on with interest to such of his colleagues as were held in higher estimation by the sovereign, and the rest of the hatred, malice, and intrigue which so often make up a large part of the relations existing between court and cabinet. "Now," cried George at the removal of his minister, “I shall have no more peace." The remark was a sigh of selfish regret, but in reality it was one of the highest compliments

administration and weaken the Opposition. | never been fond of Pelham as he had been Seated at the council-table, over which he presided with so much tact and caution, were Whigs and discontented Whigs, and men whose early sympathies had been in favour of Toryism. Of a kindly disposition, and endowed with the most valuable gift that a Leader of the Senate can possess—a perfect temper the object of his rule was to soften the feuds that so often broke out in the cabinet between his jealous and stupid brother and the favourites of the king, to propitiate the nation by colourless measures, and to offer on every occasion little opportunity for irritating the Opposition. Had he lived at the present day he would have made an excellent financial secretary to the Treasury, and perhaps have blossomed into a president of the Board of Trade. Henry Pelham was a careful steward of the public money, and the chief feature of his administration was the reduction of the interest on the national debt and the consolidation of the public funds. When George II. was in- that could be paid to the tact and temformed of the sudden death of his leading per of Henry Pelham, the "minister of adviser he was much distressed. He had compromise."

WILLIAM PITT, EARL OF CHATHAM.

WILLIAM PITT, the first Earl of Chatham, | throughout his life, and he was recommended and one of the most brilliant leaders that to complete his education by foreign travel. ever assembled within the walls of any senate, came, as Lord Shelburne states, " of no great family." His father was the son of that governor of Madras who was generally known by the name of "Diamond Pitt," on account of a singularly magnificent stone of which he became the possessor when in India, and which on his return home he sold to the Regent of Orleans. Pope, with his accustomed malice, sings that the jewel was stolen by its first English owner:—

"Asleep and naked as the Indian lay,

An honest factor stole the gem away."

Diamond Pitt enrolled himself among the landed gentry, invested in rotten boroughs, and sent his son Robert into Parliament. This Robert Pitt married a sister of the Earl of Grandison, and from the union sprang two sons-Thomas, who succeeded to the family estates; and William, afterwards the famous statesman. Like many men who in after life have attained great distinction, William Pitt in his youth did not display any very brilliant qualities. His first years may rapidly be passed over. He was born 15th November, 1708, in the parish of St. James, Westminster. At a very early age he was sent to Eton, then under the head-mastership of Dean Bland, and among his contemporaries were the venal Henry Fox, afterwards Lord Holland; Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, the statesman and poet; and Henry Fielding, the novelist. From Eton he went up to Oxford, and was entered as a gentleman commoner of Trinity. His university career was, however, cut short by a sharp attack of the gout, a malady which persecuted him

VOL. I.

He visited the chief places of interest in Germany, France, and Italy, and on his return to England it became necessary for him to think seriously of a profession. As a second son his patrimony was smallaccording to Lord Chesterfield but one hundred pounds a year-and he was accordingly anxious to increase it by employment. Through the borough influence of his brother he was returned, in the year 1735, as one of the members of Old Sarum, and through the same interest obtained a cornetcy in the Blues. This was his first and only commission.

The period Pitt had chosen to enter political life was favourable to youthful ambition. Sir Robert Walpole reigned alone.

Supported by the court, by his judicious distribution of the Treasury guineas, and by his exquisite parliamentary tact, the prime minister occupied a formidable position. The opposition arrayed against him was, however, one of the strongest and most vindictive that party tactics have called into action. With the exception of Lord Hardwicke in the House of Lords, and of Pelham and Winnington in the House of Commons, the colleagues of Sir Robert Walpole were nonentities— mere clerks to carry out the instructions of their master. But if the cabinet was a collection of nobodies, the ranks of its foes were filled with the most eminent men in the country. At the head of the Opposition were the disaffected Whigs, led by Pulteney and Sandys in the House of Commons, and by Chesterfield and Carteret in the Upper House; then came the Tories, who upheld the cause of Frederick, prince of Wales, and who were led by that pink of English

13

gentlemen, Sir William Wyndham; last of
all there were the Jacobites, under the
control of their leader, the disinterested
William Shippen. In addition to these
formidable foes of the government there
was the brilliant Bolingbroke, though ex-vania, went down to Westminster.
cluded from Parliament, ever busy with
his tongue and his pen instructing the
Opposition how to act; while there was
the press warmly hating the minister who
ignored it, and resolved to void its venom
upon his name and deeds, and depose him
from power. No wonder that, with such
enemies to face, Walpole fell; the wonder
is how he managed to hold office so long.

satire was his forte; when he attempted
ridicule, which was very seldom, he suc-
ceeded happily." Benjamin Franklin, the
American philosopher and politician, while
acting as agent in England for Pennsyl-

He

said, after listening to one of Pitt's orations, that he had sometimes seen eloquence without wisdom, and often wisdom without eloquence; in Pitt only had he seen them combined. Even the cold jealousy of Lord Shelburne warms into admiration when he criticises the oratory of Pitt. When in the pride of his manhood, so powerful was the influence exercised by Pitt that the House William Pitt enrolled himself in the of Commons trembled at his frown, and ranks of the followers of the Prince of listened awe-struck to his impetuous eloWales. He was one of a band of hot youths quence and to his fierce but ready rewho styled themselves the "Patriots," joinders. Patriots," joinders. Even the boldest member felt and whose special parliamentary mission his heart grow sick and chill when those appears to have been to hound Walpole passionate eyes were turned upon him, into resignation. The opportunity soon arrived for the young member to display the brilliant talents working within him. His first speech was in support of the congratulatory address moved by Pulteney, early in the year 1736, on the occasion of the marriage of the Prince of Wales with Augusta, Princess of Saxe-Gotha. It was a brilliant success. The young speaker had everything in his favour—a tall and manly figure, that most exquisite of musical instruments, a magnificent voice, a passionate flow of language, great powers of sarcasm, and considerable readiness of retort. Nature had, indeed, intended William Pitt for an orator when she lavished upon him her gifts of voice, presence, passion, and dignity. "His words," said Lord Lyttleton, "have sometimes frozen my young blood into stagnation, and sometimes made it pace The first speech of Pitt, though highly in such a hurry through my veins that I complimented by his contemporaries, can could scarce support it." "Pitt," writes scarcely be regarded as a favourable speciHorace Walpole, who hated him, "was un- men of the eloquence which so much imdoubtedly one of the greatest masters of pressed Horace Walpole, Lyttleton, and ornamental eloquence; his language was Franklin. Only a portion of it remains, amazingly fine and glowing, his voice ad- yet from that portion it does not strike us mirable, his action most impressive, his as deserving of the absurd praise it then figure genteel and commanding; bitter obtained. Any sixth-form boy, who had

causing the jest or malicious interruption to be crushed at its very outset. Who does not know the story? "Sugar, Mr. Speaker," began Pitt on one occasion, when so abrupt an introduction of the subject created a laugh. The fiery glance of the minister swept the House, and the usual expressive silence ensued. "Sugar, sugar, sugar," he slowly repeated, looking the while at his interrupters, who were hushed as schoolboys detected by their master, "who will now dare to laugh at sugar?" Had Pitt lived at the present day, what would he have thought of the conduct of the Irish obstructionists? Fancy any prime minister in our time attempting so to lecture the House of Commons, or venturing to use the word "dare" to any member after a similar interruption !