On this page
-
Text (2)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
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 .
Untitled Article
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 ^
Untitled Article
¦ 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/
-