THE BOD Y, as it lay in state. with the addition of a black velvet canopy borne The Pall supported by Sir George Saville, Garter, King at Arms, between a Gentleman Usher and the Black Rod. Supporter. Lord Mahon, son-in Chief mourner, The Hon. Wm. Pitt, law to the deceased. second son to the deceased. 4 Supporters of the canopy. 3 bannerols. ASSISTANT MOURNERS. All with their hair dishevelled. The Earls of Shelburne, Effingham, Radnor, Abingdon, Lord Mountmorres, Sir Watkyn William Wynne, A banner, representing Britannia weeping, and bearing in a shield, the arms of the deceased. Servants to close the procession. His Lordship's body was interred in the north cross of the abbey, opposite the Duke of Newcastle's monument. It may be worth while to insert the following summary character of him. He first was a cornet of horse," which, with a small annuity from his family, was his only provision, till he obtained a legacy of 10,000 l. from the Duchess of Marlborough. From family connection, and early habits, he formed a strict intimacy with his school-fellows, Lyttelton, and the Grenvilles; attached himself to Lord Cobham; and became a partizan of Leicester-house. In 1736, he came into parliament for Old Sarum; and instantly commenced his opposition to Sir Robert Walpole. His bitter invectives drew on him the resentment of the minister; and he was deprived of his cornetcy; but was recompensed by his own party, with the appointment of groom of the bed-chamber, to the Prince of Wales." In 1746, he was made joint vice treasurer of • Coxe. F VOL. V. Ireland, and afterwards, treasurer and paymaster of the army. On December 4th, 1756, after many disappointments, he was, on the change of administration, which took place by the resignation of the Duke of Newcastle, made secretary of state, in the room of Henry Fox, which post he held, except an interval of a few weeks, in 1757, till October 5th, 1761, not only to his own honour, but to the lasting benefit of the nation; which he raised at once, by his bold and energetic genius, from a point of depression, to a pitch of unexampled glory. On his resignation of the seals, his wife was created BARONESS CHATHAM; and he had himself a grant of an annuity of 3000l. a year, during his own life, and those of Lady Chatham, and his eldest son John, now Earl of Chatham. In 1766, the Rockingham administration being found incapable, either from want of strength or talent, to manage the helm, Mr. Pitt was called to form a new ministry; of which the Duke of Grafton was put at the head, while Mr. Pitt was created Viscount Pitt, and EARL OF CHATHAM, on July 30th, and took the office of lord privy-seal, which he held till November 2d, 1768. The acceptance of a peerage lost him much of his popularity, which he never totally recovered; an effect, which does not seem founded in reason. His death, on May 11th, 1778, the consequence of his eloquent efforts in the house of lords against conceding the independence of America, a few weeks before, is known to all the world. It has been well remarked, that "Lord Chatham was a man of an elegant, an ardent, and an exalted understanding. He took no delight in that minuteness of detail, which occupies the mind without enlarging it. He was not a man of much various, and general knowledge; but the powers of his mind, like the soul of the Dervise, in the "Arabian Nights Entertainments," seem to have been entirely under the command of his will; he could throw them into whatever subject it was necessary they should embrace." Coxe observes, that "his speeches were not so remarkable for methodical arrangement and logical precision, as for boldness of language, grandeur of sentiment, and the graces of metaphorical and classical allusion." "His invectives," says Lord Chesterfield, "were terrible; and uttered with such energy of diction, and stern dignity of action and countenance, that he intimidated those, who were the most willing, and the least able to encounter them. Their arms fell out of their hands; and they shrunk under the ascendant of his sublime genius." f Seward. On Mr. Pitt's resignation, 1761, Dr. Bisset observes; "had this extraordinary statesman condescended to employ a softer and more conciliating mode of conduct, he might perhaps have won over a majority of his colleagues to his opinion; but the experi ment was not tried. Being outvoted in the council, he resigned his employment into the hands of his sovereign. His Majesty declared his concern for the loss of so very able a servant; but without requesting him to resume his office. He offered him any reward in the power of the crown to bestow; at the same time he expressed himself satisfied with the opinion of the majority of his council; and even declared, that, had the council concurred with Mr. Pitt, he should have found it difficult how to act in the light in which he viewed the subject. The King did not conceive Spain to have exhibited any clear proofs of hostile intentions; and entertaining such a view, he could neither think it just nor prudent to commence a war. Having therefore with the greatest condescension explained his sentiments, (sentiments, that, in the light in which he regarded the matters in question, do him the greatest honour) Mr. Pitt was extremely affected by the united dignity and goodness of his sovereign. The following day, a pension of 3000l. a year was settled on Mr. Pitt for three lives, and at the same time a title upon his lady and her issue. This pension subjected the acceptor to much frivolous and contemptible obloquy. Mr. Pitt's original fortune was small; the situation into which he had been advanced by his abilities, required great expenditure; his powerful mind engaging him in momentous politics, and grasping the interest of his country and other nations, he had bestowed too little attention on his own pecuniary affairs, so that he was very far from being in affluent circumstances: he had during a most arduous conjuncture, served his country in the highest stations which he could occupy; and having found her in a state of unexampled humiliation, he left her in a state of unexampled exaltation. Such a man deserved reward. All the ribald. rous invectives poured out against his acceptance of this annuity, may be answered in a few words; as a supply it was wanted; as a recompence it was fairly earned. "Mr. Pitt's resignation of an employment in which his continuance would have promoted the most momentous interests of his country, cannot easily be justified. From his wisdom, his country. might have expected that he would have overlooked an opposition of opinion in a case which very fairly admitted of two constructions, though he was eventually proved to be right; that his patriotism would have induced him to have employed his talents even though every particular measure adopted might not be agreeable to his views; and that his magnanimity would overlook what he might suppose personal competitions. But whatever sentiments were entertained respecting Mr. Pitt's going out of office, every impartial man agreed, that a greater minister had never acted under a sovereign of England. Lofty in genius, profound in wisdom, and expansive in views; inventive in counsel, bold in resolution, and decisive in conduct, he long overbore party by unequalled ability. Sagacious in the discovery of general and official character, he discerned the fittest instruments for the execution of his plans; and employing none in offices of high political, naval, or military trust, but those whom he knew to be thoroughly qualified for effecting the purpose, he laid a sure foundation for success. The enterprizes under his administration were brilliant; and the result was at once advantageous and glorious. A mind of such force of intellectual and moral qualities, energy of operation, and perseverance of exertion, which had in its powers and endowments no motives for artifice or disguise, perhaps bestowed too little care to conceal from others that superiority, which it so transcendently possessed. A little more indulgence for common understandings, and somewhat less of aus terity of temper and of inflexibility of disposition, might have preserved this illustrious man to the councils of his country, Dr. Bisset gives the following account of Lord Chatham's death. "His Lordship had that session frequently attended the house of peers, less from the relaxation of distemper, than from the calls of duty, which the increasing calamities of his country made him consider every day more imperious. In a bodily state fitted. only for the stillness and quiet of a bed of sickness, he encountered the active warfare of the senate, hoping his counsels might at length be admitted by those who were experiencing such evils from former rejection, and intractability, and that, in his old age, he might contribute to restore part of the prosperity, greatness and glory, which he had acquired for his country in the vigour of his life, and which left her when he ceased to guide her affairs. His exertion, in the former part of the session, so much beyond his bodily strength, had increased his distemper; but, informed of the business that was to be agitated, and aware of the doctrines • Bisset's reign of Geo. III. vol. i. p. 300---302. which would be brought forward, he though it incumbent on himself to render it manifest to the world, that though he agreed with the Marquis of Rockingham and his adherents in reprobating the system of ministry, he totally differed from them on the question of American independence. He accordingly betook himself to the senate, of which, for near half a century, he had been the brightest luminary. Having arrived in the house, he refreshed himself in the lord chancellor's room, until he learned that business was about to begin. The infirm statesman was led into the house of peers, attended by his son-in-law, Lord Mahon, and resting on the arm of his second son Mr. William Pitt. He was richly dressed in a superb suit of black velvet, with a full wig, and covered up to the knees in flannel. He was pale and emaciated, but the darting quickness, force, and animation of his eyes, and the expression of his whole countenance, shewed that his mind retained its primeval perspicacity, brilliancy, and strength. The lords stood up, and made a lane for him to pass through to the bench of the Earls, and with the gracefulness of deportment for which he was so eminently distinguished, he bowed to them as he proceeded. Having taken his seat, he listened with the most profound attention to the speech of the Duke of Richmond. When his Grace had finished, Lord Chatham rose; he lamented that at so important a crisis, his bodily infirmities had interfered so often with his regular attendance on his duty in parliament. "I have this day (said he) made an effort beyond the powers of my constitution, to come down to the house, perhaps the last time I shall enter its walls, to express my indignation against the proposition of yielding the sovereignty of America. My lords, I rejoice that the grave has not closed upon me, that I am still alive to lift up my voice against the dismemberment of this ancient and noble monarchy. Pressed down as I am by the load of infirmity, I am little able to assist my country in this most perilous conjuncture; but, my lords, while I have sense and memory, I never will consent to tarnish the lustre of this nation by an ignominious surrender of its rights and fairest possessions. Shall a people so lately the terror of the world, now fall prostrate before the house of Bourbon? It is impossible. I am not, I confess, well informed of the resources of this kingdom; but I trust it has still sufficient to maintain its just rights, though I know them not; and any state, my lords, is better than despair. Let us at least make one effort; and, if we must fall, let us fail like men." |