LORD CHATHAM WILLIAM PITT, first Earl of Chatham, was born at Westminster in 1708. He was the grandson of Thomas Pitt, Governor of Madras, who was known as "Diamond Pitt" from the fact of his having sold a diamond of extraordinary size to the Regent Orleans for $680,000. William Pitt was educated at Eton, whence he passed to Trinity College, Oxford. It is an interesting fact that Demosthenes was his favorite author. After spending some time in France and Italy, he entered the army, but his military career was short. In 1735 he entered Parliament for Old Sarum, a rotten borough belonging to his family. He soon became a leader of the opposition to Walpole. In 1746, he became Vice-Treasurer of Ireland, but soon resigned this post to take the more important and lucrative office of Paymaster-General of the Forces. He refused to profit, however, by the practice of previous paymasters, who had appropriated to themselves the interest of all money lying in their hands. He was dismissed from office by the Duke of Newcastle in 1755, but in December of the following year he became Secretary of State and leader of the House of Commons. In 1757 he was the virtual head of the administration, and continued in power till 1761. During these four years it is customary to say that Pitt's biography is the history of England. When he resigned office in 1761, he received a pension of £3,000 a year for three lives, and his wife was created Baroness Chatham in her own right. For himself, he still preferred to retain the title of the "Great Commoner," but in 1766, when he was invited to form a Cabinet, he accepted the office of Lord Privy Seal, and thereupon became Viscount Pitt and Earl of Chatham. In 1768 he resigned, and did not resume his seat in the House of Lords until 1770. His last appearance in the House of Lords was on April 2, 1778, when he opposed the Duke of Richmond's motion for an address praying the King to conclude peace with America on any terms. He died on May 11 of the same year. The speech which we here reproduce was one of many pronounced against the policy followed by Lord North in dealing with the American Colonies. (1) Vol. IV.-1-Orations THE ATTEMPT TO SUBJUGATE AMERICA DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS, NOVEMBER 18, 1777 RISE, my lords, to declare my sentiments on this most solemn and serious subject. It has imposed a load upon my mind, which, I fear, nothing can remove; but which impels me to endeavor its alleviation, by a free and unreserved communication of my sentiments. In the first part of the address, I have the honor of heartily concurring with the noble earl who moved it. No man feels sincerer joy than I do; none can offer more genuine congratulation on every accession of strength to the Protestant succession. I therefore join in every congratulation on the birth of another princess and the happy recovery of her Majesty. But I must stop here. My courtly complaisance will carry me no further. I will not join in congratulation on misfortune and disgrace. I cannot concur in a blind and servile address, which approves and endeavors to sanctify the monstrous measures which have heaped disgrace and misfortune upon us. This, my lords, is a perilous and tremendous moment! It is not a time for adulation. The smoothness of flattery cannot now avail; cannot save us in this rugged and awful crisis. It is now necessary to instruct the throne in the language of truth. We must dispel the delusion and the darkness. which envelop it; and display, in its full danger and true colors, the ruin that is brought to our doors. This, my lords, is our duty. It is the proper function. of this noble assemblage, sitting, as we do, upon our honors Who in this house, the hereditary council of the crown. is the minister-where is the minister that has dared to suggest to the throne the contrary, unconstitutional language this day delivered from it? The accustomed language from the throne has been application to Parliament for advice, and a reliance on its constitutional advice and assistance. As it is the right of Parliament to give, so it is the duty of the crown to ask it. But on this day, and in this extreme momentous exigency, no reliance is reposed on our constitutional counsels! no advice is asked from the sober and enlightened care of Parliament! but the crown, from itself and by itself, declares an unalterable determination to pursue measures—and what measures, my lords?-The measures that have produced the imminent perils that threaten us; the measures that have brought ruin to our doors. Can the minister of the day now presume to expect a continuance of support, in this ruinous infatuation? Can Parliament be so dead to its dignity and its duty, as to be thus deluded into the loss of the one and the violation of the other?-To give an unlimited credit and support for the steady perseverance in measures not proposed for our parliamentary advice, but dictated and forced upon us—in measures, I say, my lords, which have reduced this late flourishing empire to ruin and contempt!-"But yesterday, and England might have stood against the world: now none so poor to do her reverence. I use the words of a poet; but, though it be poetry, it is no fiction. It is a shameful truth, that not only the power and strength of this country are wasting away and expiring; but her well-earned glories, her true honor, and substantial dignity are sacrificed. France, my lords, has insulted you; she |