Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/147

Rh PITT 137 as a lover of science and letters. With him were leagued Lord Camden, who had formerly held the great seal, and whose integrity, ability, and constitutional knowledge commanded the public respect ; Barre, an eloquent and acrimonious declaimer ; and Dunning, who had long held the first place at the English bar. It was to this party that Pitt was naturally attracted. 1st On the 26th of February 1781 he made his first speech i och. in favour of Burke s plan of economical reform. Fox stood up at the same moment, but instantly gave way. The lofty yet animated deportment of the young member, his perfect self-possession, the readiness with which he replied to the orators who had preceded him, the silver tones of his voice, the perfect structure of his unpremeditated sentences, astonished and delighted his hearers. Burke, moved even to tears, exclaimed, &quot; It is not a chip of the old block ; it is the old block itself.&quot; &quot; Pitt will be one of the first men in parliament,&quot; said a member of the opposition to Fox. &quot; He is so already,&quot; answered Fox, in whose nature envy had no place. It is a curious fact, well remembered by some who were very recently living, 1 that soon after this debate Pitt s name was put up by Fox at Brookes s. On two subsequent occasions during that session Pitt addressed the House, and on both fully sustained the reputation which he had acquired on his first appearance. In the summer, after the prorogation, he again went the western circuit, held several briefs, and acquitted himself in such a manner that he was highly complimented by Buller from the bench, and by Dunning at the bar. On the 27th of November the parliament reassembled. Only forty-eight hours before had arrived tidings of the surrender of Cornwallis and his army ; and it had conse quently been necessary to rewrite the royal speech. Every man in the kingdom, except the king, was now convinced that it was mere madness to think of conquering the United States. In the debate on the report of the address, Pitt spoke with even more energy and brilliancy than on any former occasion. He was warmly applauded by his allies ; but it was remarked that no person on his own side of the house was so loud in eulogy as Henry Dundas, the lord advocate of Scotland, who spoke from the ministerial ranks. That able and versatile politician distinctly fore saw the approaching downfall of the Government with which he was connected, and was preparing to make his own escape from the ruin. From that night dates his connexion with Pitt, a connexion which soon became a close intimacy, and which lasted till it was dissolved by death. About a fortnight later Pitt spoke in the committee of supply on the army estimates. Symptoms of dissen sion had begun to appear on the treasury bench. Lord George Germaine, the secretary of state who was especi ally charged with the direction of the war in America, had held language not easily to be reconciled with declarations made by the first lord of the treasury. Pitt noticed the discrepancy with much force and keenness. Lord George and Lord North began to whisper together ; and Welbore Ellis, an ancient placeman who had been drawing salary almost every quarter since the days of Hemy Pelham, bent down between them to put in a word. Such interruptions sometimes discompose veteran speakers. Pitt stopped, and, looking at the group, said, with admirable readiness, &quot; I shall wait till Nestor has composed the dispute between Agamemnon and Achilles.&quot; After several defeats, or victories hardly to be distin guished from defeats, the ministry resigned. The king, reluctantly and ungraciously, consented to accept Rock- 1 [It is to be noted that this and some other allusions in the pre sent article refer to the date of its original appearance, 1859.] ingham as first minister. Fox and Shelburne became secretaries of state. Lord John Cavendish, one of the most upright and honourable of men, was made chancellor of the exchequer. Thurlow, whose abilities and force of character had made him the dictator of the House of Lords, continued to hold the great seal. To Pitt was offered, through Shelburne, the vice- Declines treasurership of Ireland, one of the easiest and most office in highly paid places in the gift of the crown ; but the offer R ek - was without hesitation declined. The young statesman mf^try had resolved to accept no post which did not entitle him to March a seat in the cabinet ; and a few days later he announced 1782. that resolution in the House of Commons. It must be remembered that the cabinet was then a much smaller and more select body than at present. We have seen cabinets of sixteen. In the time of our grandfathers a cabinet of ten or eleven was thought inconveniently large. Seven was a usual number. Even Burke, who had taken the lucrative office of paymaster, was not in the cabinet. Many therefore thought Pitt s declaration indecent. He himself was sorry that he had made it. The words, he said in private, had escaped him in the heat of speaking ; and he had no sooner uttered them than he would have given the world to recall them. They, however, did him no harm with the public. The second William Pitt, it was said, had shown that he had inherited the spirit as well as the genius of the first. In the son, as in the father, there might perhaps be too much pride ; but there was nothing low or sordid. It might be called arrogance in a young barrister, living in chambers on three hundred a year, to refuse a salary of five thousand a year, merely because he did not choose to bind himself to speak or vote for plans which he had no share in framing ; but surely such arrogance was not very far removed from virtue. Pitt gave a general support to the administration of Rockingham, but omitted, in the meantime, no opportunity of courting that ultra-Whig party which the persecution of Wilkes and the Middlesex election had called into existence, and which the disastrous events of the war, and the triumph of republican principles in America, had made formidable both in numbers and in temper. He supported a motion for shortening the duration of parliaments. He made a motion for a committee to examine into the state Intro- of the representation, and, in the speech by which that duces motion was introduced, avowed himself the enemy of the for par jj a. close boroughs, the strongholds of that corruption to which me ntary he attributed all the calamities of the nation, and which, as reform, he phrased it in one of those exact and sonorous sentences of which he had a boundless command, had grown with the growth of England and strengthened with her strength, but had not diminished with her diminution or decayed with her decay. On this occasion he was supported by Fox. The motion was lost by only twenty votes in a house of more than three hundred members. The reformers never again had so good a division till the year 1831. The new administration was strong in abilities, and was more popular than any administration which had held office since the first year of George III., but was hated by the king, hesitatingly supported by the Parlia ment, and torn by internal dissensions. The chancellor was disliked and distrusted by almost all his colleagues. The two secretaries of state regarded each other with no friendly feeling. The line between their departments had not been traced with precision ; and there were conse quently jealousies, encroachments, and complaints. It was all that Rockingham could do to keep the peace in his cabinet ; and before the cabinet had existed three months Rockingham died. In an instant all was confusion. The adherents of the* XIX. 1 8