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IX.

1792.

of William first Earl of Chatham. His mother, a lady CHAP. of great talents and uncommon strength of understanding, was Lady Hester, only daughter of Richard Grenville, Esq., and Countess Temple. At first young Pitt's constitution was uncommonly feeble, insomuch that great fears were entertained that he could not be reared to maturity; but notwithstanding this disadvantage, his diligence and ability were such that, at the age of fourteen, when he was sent to Cambridge, his proficiency in Greek and Latin was truly extraordinary. By Lord Chatham's desire, Thucydides was the first Greek book he read after coming to college; and such was the facility he had already acquired in that difficult language, that he could read six or seven pages he had never previously seen, without more than two or three mistakes. With such penetration did he seize the meaning of this great writer, and so rapidly imbibe his ideas, that it was observed of him at the time by his preceptor, "that he never seemed to learn, but only to recollect." At this period, and during all the time he remained at college, his conduct was correct, his conversation easy, his application ceaseless. Lord Chatham had from the first conversed with him on every subject: the true system of education, but one which is hardly safe except in a parent's hand. His knowledge of Scripture was extensive and accurate, insomuch that long after, and when immersed in political life, 1 Tomline's he could distinguish at once a quotation from the Bible i. 1, 4. from one from the Apocrypha.1

Life of Pitt,

and studies

After being some years at college, he read habitually 35. the orators and historians of antiquity; particularly Livy, His youth, Thucydides, and Sallust. It was his favourite occupation at college. to compare opposite speeches upon the same subject, and to examine how each speaker managed his own side of the question, and obviated or answered the reasoning of his opponent. When alone, he dwelt for hours upon striking passages of these historians and orators, and was particularly captivated by their inimitable brevity and

IX.

1792.

CHAP. force of expression. He had little turn for the minute details of grammar; could never be induced to construe word by word, or attend to the rules of syntax: but read several sentences straight on, and then rendered them at once into free English, to the great astonishment and no small annoyance of his masters. He was set on things, not words. All his leisure hours were devoted to translating the finest passages of the classic authors into English the most useful, as the opposite one of turning English into Greek or Latin is the most useless, occupation which can be given to youth. With equal diligence he applied to mathematics, and displayed such skill in the solution of problems, that it was evident he would have reached the very highest eminence in science, if fortune had not thrown him into public life. With not less avidity he studied the great poets and authors of his own country, and when he left college at the age of twenty-one, there were few of the historical or literary writers of Great Britain with whom he was unacquainted. But these calm studies were soon interrupted: in spring 1780 he became resident in Lincoln's Inn, and regularly attended Westminster Hall; and in January 1781 he was introduced into Parliament for the burgh of Appleby.

Life of Pitt,

1 Tomline's Even before he appeared in public life, his great father had anticipated his future distinction, and dwelt on the prospect with fond and touching enthusiasm.1+

i. 9, 23.

Modern history has hardly so great a character to exhibit. Inheriting from his father, the first Lord Chat

* In this practice he followed the example and precept of Cicero-" Postea mihi placuit, eoque sum usus adolescens, ut summorum oratorum Græcas orationes explicarem. Quibus lectis hoc assequebar, ut cum ea quæ legerem Græcè Latinè redderem, non solum optimis verbis uterer, et tamen usitatis, sed etiam exprimerem quædam verba imitando quæ nova nostris essent, dummodo essent idonea."-De Oratore, lib. i. cap. 34. Cicero never thought of translating Latin into Greek; and, had he done so, he never would have rivalled the Philippics, and certainly never composed the orations against Catiline. He is a bold man who, on the education of an orator, gainsays the united authority and disregards the similar practice of Cicero and Pitt.

The last letter of Lord Chatham to Mr Pitt began in these terms :-" How can I employ my reviving pen so well as in addressing a few lines to the hope

ham, a patriotic and truly British spirit, he early imbibed, CHAP. at the same time, a strong attachment to those liberal

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1792.

principles on which the administration of that illustrious 36.

difficulties

as a states

man was founded, and which had given to his government His early such general and deserved popularity. The first part of his career was chiefly remarkable for these sentiments, man. and his great abilities, from the very outset, gave him a distinguished place in Parliament. But circumstances soon arose which called forth the latent powers of his mind, and exhibited in full lustre the indomitable firmness of his character. Mr Fox and Lord North had formed a coalition, after their chief cause of discord had been extinguished by the termination of the American War; and, strong in the possession of an apparently invincible majority in the Lower House, had ventured upon the bold measure of bringing in a bill which proposed to take from the East India Company the government of Hindostan, and vest it in certain commissioners, to be appointed, not by the Crown, but by the House of Commons. It is impossible to doubt that such a change, if carried into execution, would have subverted the constitution, by the establishment of an imperium in imperio, possessed of greater authority and influence than the executive. But this catastrophe was averted by the firmness and sagacity of the monarch who then held the British sceptre. Perceiving at once the full extent of the danger; well aware, in the emphatic words of Lord Thurlow, "that this bill, if carried, would take the crown from the King's head, 1 Parl. Hist. and place it on that of Mr Fox," he instantly resolved xxiv. 125. to interpose his influence to prevent it from passing into a law, and resolutely declared his determination, if necessary, to retire to Hanover, rather than continue in Britain the mere tool of a parliamentary oligarchy. By his

and comfort of my life, my dear William ?"--and ends, " So, with best compliments to Aristotle, Homer, Thucydides, Xenophon, not forgetting Locke, Grotius, and the Law of Nations, adieu, my dearest William. Your most affectionate father, CHATHAM."-LORD CHATHAM to Mr PITT. September 22, 1777; TOMLINE's Life of Pitt, i. 23.

IX.

Dec.8,1783.

CHAP. exertions the bill, after having passed the Commons by a great majority, was thrown out, by a slender majority of 1792. eight, in the House of Lords; and this led to the immediate resignation of the Coalition Ministry. The King instantly sent for Mr Pitt, and, on the 12th January 1784, he took his seat in the House of Commons as Chancellor of the Exchequer.

37.

ter as a

and arduous

struggle he

maintained.

Never did a more arduous struggle await a minister. His charac- The Opposition, led by the impetuous energy of Fox, statesman, aided by the experienced influence and admirable temper of Lord North, was possessed of a great majority in the Lower House, and treated at first with the utmost scorn this attempt on the part of a young man of six-and-twenty to dispossess them of the government. But it was soon evident that his talents were equal to the task, arduous and apparently hopeless though it was. Invincible in resolution, and yet cool in danger; possessed of a moral courage which nothing could overcome; fertile in resources, powerful in debate, eloquent in declamation-he exhibited a combination of great qualities, which for political contests never was excelled. A pure and irreproachable private character gave his opponents no weak side whereon to assail the panoply with which he was surrounded : a temperament, the energies of which were wholly concentrated on national objects, left him no room for selfish passion or private gratification. The ordinary vices of men of rank had no sway over him. Albeit noways insensible to their attractions, he was never the slave of women; though he often drank largely, it was only to restore nature after the incessant exhaustion of his parliamentary efforts. Incorruptible, though wielding the wealth of England and the Indies; fearless, though combating alone the whole weight of an apparently irresistible Opposition; cool, though tried by all the means which could overcome the firmest patience; cautious, when prudence counselled reserve-energetic and eloquent, when the moment for action had arrived; he successfully

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1792.

withstood the most formidable parliamentary majority CHAP. which had appeared in English history since the Revolution, and ultimately remained victorious in the struggle. An administration thus tried in its infancy, was proof against any other danger in its maturer years. The intellect of its head clearly and at once perceived both the peril of the French revolutionary principles, and the expedience of making no attempt by external means to check its progress; and, fortunately for the cause of freedom throughout the world, that great convulsion found the British government in the hands of one, alike friendly to the cause of liberty, and hostile to the excesses which so often lead to its subversion. An attentive observer of the progress of the Revolution, therefore, he cautiously abstained from any act which might involve England in hostility with its distracted neighbour; and, though strongly pressed in the outset to take a part in the struggle, he maintained a strict neutrality when the German armies had penetrated to the very heart of France, and the moment seemed to have arrived when it was possible to terminate, by a single hostile demonstration, the rivalry of four centuries.

His charac

history.

Edmund Burke was the leader of a third party, com- 38. posed of the old Whigs, who supported the principles of Mr Burke. the English, but opposed those of the French Revolution. ter and early He was born in Arran Quay, Dublin, on January 12, 1730. His family was a very old one, and of Norman extraction, and originally bore the name of "de Burgh,” of which Burke is only a corruption. His father was a respectable attorney, in extensive practice-so lucrative, indeed, that Edmund, though a younger son, received nearly £20,000 as a patrimony. His mother, by whom he was taught to read, and instructed in the rudiments of education, was a woman of a very cultivated understanding; a circumstance which almost invariably is the case with those who afterwards rise to great celebrity. constitution he was at first weak, and his early proficiency

In

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