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    meBthfi * -were Fox ,. Murray , and Pitt . Eox , says Mr . jfrsaeyi , watt some S ^ r ^ sW ^ ical politicians txow , apply to Lord Derby , was pria-Sy ^ . piouousSean 8 e " in acorrupfcage I * * " ™ * ^ V ^ m *! SST fcSib virtue . Btrt JNEurray . ( Mansfield ) he ™ f *^^ , ^ £ S ^ ««* ££ rv e- of the English censtatational lawyer ~ - * bx £ • mftdfeiefc SSr ^ no etol ^ moral * . Eitt fce adores , , too : amd * a * b * character S ^ S iEngiishman ; . fe < the most finished in the volume , we give the rnortraitat lengijhs . -WSHijim Pitt iws a genius for inaUitot achievenisnts , for esfcraordinary emergen--iSSSnS . ^ country . Ae a , statesman , Pitt can endure , £ mpanson _ mth tWnSS w ^ rf « ad em . hu . taiy--mth Sarnies or Sully , Sustefaeu . or *« W *"; Asanor ^ arhewsiy-et faiuivaUed ; and So find ht » equal , wemust ascend < to * be £ »« t

    Such naaegyricsjnarseem loose ^ ad extravagant .. I propose to justify . thfiJBrstJby a feShM narrative of the political achievements of Chatham ^ of his unfinished desiens * and , lastly , of hi » opposition to the rash and shallow policy of the inferior menwho supplanted or succeeded -him . His fame , indeed , as a master of eloquence I can vindicate but imperfectly . I may quote passages , grand , affecting , and , sublime - these perhaps , can be matched m oratorical essays , which feH flat -upon then audience : but-who shall attempt-to do justice to those qualities which constitute-the eammee off o *» tory—countenance , voioe , gesture—all that the Greek calls Action ? TetithesewarecaTriedibyOhatham to a teansoendant excellence . £ it £ s rcharaater had many faults , and ens * abwe all , which is hardly consistent TOifc'true greatness . A vile affeotatioa . perrodfid his whole comhwrti aad mnjed h » real virtues . Contempt of pelf was one of th& traits wiuoh distinguished him an a corrupt and venal age . But not content with foregoing official perquisites which would have made his fortune , and appropriating-only the salary which was his due , lie must go down to the House of Commons aad w « unt Aa tragic style how " those hands were clean . " On resigning office afteihlsfirstgreatadministration , he couldjiot retire with his fame , but must converts situation full of dignity and interest into a wrti « r » r ^ . rtono , l « r the oatentations sale of Ms « tafte ¦ equ-ipagesv

    itemethaes , to produce an effect , he would seclude himself from public fcusmess , cfcang rare audience to a colleague , or some dignified emissary of the Court . T ^ en , aflaer ^ due attendance , the doors were thrown open , and the visitor was ( ushered mto ^ a chamber carefully prepared , where the Great Commoner himself sat with thearobe of sickness artfully disposed around him .. Occasionally , after a long absence , he would go down to the Hofc&e in an imposing . panoply of gout , make a -great speech ,, and icifTi f ) r&w ' At . a later period , he affected almost regal state . His colleagues in office , including , menibers of the great nobility , were expected to wait upon him ; at onetime he did not « ven deign to grant them audience , arid went so far as to talk of communicating his policy t © the Htrase-of Commons through a special agent of his own unconnected ¦ with the responsible Governments The under-secretaries of bis department , men of ' considerable official position , and sometimes proximate ministers , were expected to > ramain standing aa his presence . When he went abroad he was sattended-by a . great ' retinae ? - < wheh he stopped at an inn he required all the servants of the establisfinient ! to w « ar his livery . - . _ . . ... ,. TO *__ ^ . before His for the

    _ Yet all this pride tumbled into the dust royalty . reverence sovereign was Oriental rather than English . After every allowance for the exaggerationoThis rstyle , it is still unpleasant to witness the self-abasement of such a spirit before George the Second and his successor . " The weight of irremovable royal dispieasun * " said he , "is . a load too . great to move under ; it must crush-iuiy man ; it has sunk arid broke me . I succumb , and wish for nothing but a decent andlnnocent ratieat . " At the time when Pitt indited these shameful words , he was the most considerable > man in England , andt > n 4 he eve of an administration that carried the power andiglory-of England Ao > a height which at had never approached > 8 ince the day * of the if it were juat to iresolve the character of such a man into detail , it would be easy to . calleot paasages frpm the life of Chatham which should prove him a time-server , a trimmer , an apostate , a bully , a servile flatterer , an insolent contemner of-royalty . All these elements are to be found in the composition , as poisons are to be detected in the fiaest bodies . But taken tag » -whole , aicandid judgment must pronounce the character ctChatham to be one ofstriking grandeur , exhibiting , manyof-thfinoblest qualities of the Datriot . the statesman , and the orator .

    JKewcastla , -whom Mr . Massey considers was not both knave and fool , but simply ' knave—a vindication which , must l ) e gratifying to the House of Pelham—had to decide between the three pretensions ; and he offered the lead . to Fox . But the " negotiations" to induce Fox to "join" were delicate . TJbe ^ uke , who was tenacious of bis " management" of members , insisted on retaining his hold on the secret service money . " Fox , " says Mr . Massey ,, ¦" pointed out , with strong sense , the inconvenience of such a reserve . " How , asked Fox , not intending the least / satire on his country , " how was he to manage the House of Commons , unless lie knew who had been bribed and who liad . not ? " In our day no man would undertake to lead the House in such ignorance , oi \ otherwise , without large powers in , council ; and doubt- ' legftpiiTtUa rooent refusal of . Lord Palmerston to join Lord Derby , and in the rctinamenfc of the P-eelites from . Lord Pahnerston , there were «« me such , motive * tof self-respect operating upon patriotism . Sir . Thomas Robinson cot the post . Asaovule ,-. the House of Commons has mot been led . by its

    be ** i »*» i bufSir Tbomas { Robinson was the least respectable leader it ever had ; he was a Bilrer-Btiok , and the " -wits" laughed at the Duke of Newcastle for appointing such a man , just as the wrts would'have laughed at Lord 'Derby had Lord Derby got his House of Commons led by a brace of fasKionablfi novelists . By-and 3 > . y Hfct and . Fox coalesced ; Fox forced his way Jttto the Caliinet ; Pitt and GrenviHo wore chicaned out of . office ; and tbaifi iwasj England governed when war came on— -Franco thKoateriing invasipn . Th&ce was a shocking , series of imbecilities .: hesitation ,. timorousnaa « v , awl . ^ oWeness . England had no navy and no army ; the Court-was thinking eocohifiively of Hanover . Hessians wore-hired , . a wefltena squadron AfHBSBOBrt off , anda 4 iot . l » rillitt » tTyear was concluded by imngingian atlmiral ; which was tho » the fashion , thowgh in our time we «*© reiy " cut" a -foiled < connnemder-in-chief . THt > titter Bilure ' of our arms was compensated for by th « brilliancy of puc dfrilomacy . England had been for ten years abusing Prussia , just as in the lttsi , ten years she has been abusing Austria . But oircumsta-nces remised inconsistency ; wo hated . the great Frederick , but we became his aUjr , ' and carried Mm through the seven yoara' war , and the country waa nengKotulatad by the Ministers , ' jubfc as Ministers now congratulate tUenwelvafr wn the adhesion of . Austria . But the effort to degrade the lurttsn ii -vum 4 » o much ibr a feeble administration : bis &ucce « alul

    dipUamacy xuined Newcastle just as successful diplomacy fmnibiltited Lord Aberdeen . Pitt was the Palmerston of the movement , and Pitt came in almost unconditionaUy strong : —it sufficed that he undertook td carry on the war with vigour . His first act was to discharge the Hessians , and to organise a Militia ; and he extinguished the < $ ause of the Pretender in Scothind , and , therefore , m Great Britain , b y engaging the Highland clana as soldiers—those passionately loyal people , it would appear , oiwy : requiring pay toi- fte practical . Pitt also at once recklessly ^ profusely- —^ but that was vigour—increased the forces , and be grew so popular that all the court ' aad corrupt cababa against Mm failed ; and though Newcastle got in again , alongside him , it was without real power , and the great commoner reigned * now with absolute sway . The state of affairs , when he began , was awful ;

    3 n America aad in the Mediterranean we had been beaten by the admirals and generals of our ^ natural enemy ; " in &ermany , Frederick had lostxthe battle of JKolin ; and , at borne , the people , soys Mr . Massey , seeing these sadden -vicissitudes in party politics , no change altering tfaje dead-lock of administration , came to the conclusion that all the politicians were selfseekers , and believed Ifliat the interests of the country were perpetually sacrificed to the foreign interests of the rergntng femily . Pitt ' s first affair was the siege of Sochefbrt , -and that was a failure , for , instead of trying a ' coup domain , the general , like Lord Raglan , resorted to aa investment ; and there was a burst of popular indignation at the disaster : the ribald press insisting that Mordaunt and Hawke had had secret orders to failwhich appears to have beea a fact . Mr . Massey « ay 8 : —

    The failure of the Kochefort expedition may -well be ascribed' to the evils of a divided command . But there were other'causes , which had long = depresssed the tone qf-miBtaTy iiitelHgencfi and energy . The system of promotion by Bemority , which then obtained in the British service , was not calculated to bring fiorwanLmerit ; and ith « evasion of responsibUity , which characterised the feeble plans and unhesitating orders of the , govemanent , had . taught the xoutine leaders -of our iieate and armies to consult their own safety , by a cautious adhenence 3 fcQ the strict line . of duty ; . rather than tke j ) ride of their profession and the glory of their country , by a more'daring course . But the fortunes of the empire were now guided by a statesman " who sought for merit wherever it was to be found , " and to whose favour or . indulgence the only recommendations were zeal and enterprise in the public service .

    Yet what was obvious then was an evil of which the ribald press is complaining to a practical public to this hour-Pitt's vigour was so intense as to be somewhat dangerous . To get back Minorca , then our only Mediterranean port , he offered Spain ^ Gibraltar , but fortunately for our " Indian Empire , " then not a consideration , he did not succeed . But on the whole , he did wonders . By subsidising Frederick and reorganising the Hanoverian army , under the Duke of Cumberland , he ' got into * he field a force sufficient to intimidate France out of the idea _ of invasion ; and , by selecting his generals for merit and capacity , he got on well in the frontier war in North America . He conveyedTris own mind and will into the whole nation and into the two services ; and genius ruled England .

    But every day his popularity was Tn danger ; the slightest failure , or the : least pause , and the public was savage . We have seen , within Lthese-few weeks , how a Minister of War had to suffer For the failure of a general ; and Pitt was often near a catastrophe . In Wolfe's case he ran the greatest risk . Two . sets of despatches arrived from Wolfe , who was 'besieging Quebec , -within three days , of one another . In the : first set he wrote in a tone of despair , and seemed to prepare his countrymen for the worst ; and there was gloom and fury in Cheapside . The next set announced the success of hia gallant enterprise ; Wolfe was a hero , worthy of Westminster Abbey ; Pitt was the select of Great Britain ' s Providence . Wolfe ' s cotip was followed by Hawkes ( Hawkes , who , like Pitt , left his " mark" in the peerage—Wolfe oiie 01 tn at

    fell too soon—was , like ntt . ana lilce w , orougu piooeaan origin ; BeQeisle , and then Englishmen were proud of their country , and had Pitt cKbseh , "he ooiild then ha-ve taken ^^ Gromwell ' s-place . —But-he ^ was . loyal , rather mad ^ and never passed a week without thinking of resigning . When George III . succeeded to the throne , at the death of the careless George II . —George III ., with a hate of Whig supremacy , and a crafty Eaul of Bute to work out his plans—he ( lid resigu , in a" pet , " and went into retirement . peace _ " honourable and lasting , " of course—was patched up ; all the blood and treasure , and all those great victories , > vhich made England the foremost nation in the world , had been lavished and gained in vain . " But mediocrity and intrigue , " says the astute Mr . Massey , " had obtained ascendancy in the British councils . " But the Grenviiles were soon glad that peaee had been secured . For , having got the House of Bourbon quieted , they had leisure and opportunity to carry on the war with the JNorfli American colonies . How our aristocracy contrived in that matter is ja matter of peculiarly painful history to those numerous persons who are at

    jonce Englishmen and Liberals . These were . two great wars in which the British aristocracy had a fair chanoe—the country perfectly calm at home—of proving their worthiness of ithe government of England . They failed lamentably . But then they were consistent . They failed in all flie wars subsequently until , after innumerable disasters , Twinging us to the verge of ruin , men of genius presented themselves . Supposing that now the man of genius does not turn up ? Let us alway& remember that in the war with the American colonies the man of genius was nolx > n our side .

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    TWO NOVELS . Antipodes , or- the Ne * o JExiatmte . By a . Clergyman . Hurst and . ^ ackatt . Mammon . By Mrs . Gore . Huwt -nd . Blaokatt .. Wjs had some Lord Chamberlainish difficulties as to whether we should give precedence to the lady or the cloth : wishing to part at peace with our lUlow-creatuBea , we reserve Mis . Gork w .. » bonne boucha , and give the < [ place of honour to our clerical novelist , who stands bo . sadly in need or it . Sflfar as we can discover Antipodes , it is so called because m every respect , a » regards oonaeption and exeoution , in its broadeet scope and in ite emaitoBt detoU , it is the precise opposite of what a novel should bo . ™« -Jf « f •*•»*" c ?* ceitexp « ees , is— Teetotaliam . There is no greater fault in . fiction than invonting . Tcharacters and facts to preach and enforce a definite . dogma . In . behalfafthe highest caueo , and by the moat able writer , ttas / wia ( grievous ^

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    ¦ M + gflgS . 3855 . 1 TH ^ B LaAa ^ BE : ZUi

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), March 3, 1855, page 211, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2080/page/19/