all party distinctions and family interests; to employ men of sterling talents, on whatever side he found them; and to ensure victory by filling the army and navy with officers of experienced bravery. His first care was to dislodge the Hanoverian troops from the English garrisons, and upon sending them back to the Continent, to provide for the internal defence of the country by levying an able militia. He raised new regiments in the Highlands, and by indicating confidence in the Scotch succeeded in obtaining it. He kept all the powers of the empire alert by a series of unintermitted enterprizes, and attacked the enemy in every quarter of the globe. He despatched fleets to the East and West Indies, and forwarded another squadron to seize the Island of Goree, on the coast of Africa-an undertaking as gallantly executed as it was propitiously designed, and from the late dearth of success, hailed with delight by the people. Still, however, the Monarch persisted in his antipathies, and the difference was soon destined to receive fatal aggravation. The campaign on the Continent had no sooner set in, than George the IInd. determined to send the Duke of Cumberland to the relief of the King of Prussia, a mode of interference which Pitt had determined not to countenance. He refused to advance any money for the journey; and, although by virtue of his office he delivered a message from the Crown to the Commons, requesting a supply for the prosecution of the continental war, he refused to support the subject of the prayer. For this act he and his party were dismissed :—the places of his friends were easily supplied, but his remained unoccupied.

When this circumstance transpired, the discontent of the people rose to the highest pitch, and the public feeling was proclaimed without hesitation or reserve. The freedom of the principal cities throughout the kingdom was presented to the ejected minister in the most complimentary manner; and addresses, expressing general thanks, and an unqualified approbation of his conduct, poured in on him from all quarters. In short, the nation was in a fever, and neither intrigue nor command sufficed to control its ravings: the King found it vain to withstand; and is said to have shed tears of mortification, when thus forced to yield the reins of government a second time to the dictation of William Pitt. This triumph was in the highest degree uncompromising and complete. He placed his late rival, Mr. Fox, under

him; and subjected Lord Anson, who at his Majesty's particular entreaty was allowed in remain at the Admiralty, under restrictions, which in a manner annihilated his influence. The leading departments were again conducted by his personal friends; confidence was restored to the people, and warm hopes of happiness again prevailed.

Upon resuming his station at the head of affairs, he laboured under many disadvantages-his temporary successors had defeated, by their weakness and indecision, the projects he had left in a course of operation; and he was thus reduced to the necessity of making considerable sacrifices, in order to overcome the consequences of their imprudence. At the very onset, two plans upon which he embarked were defeated; these were the expeditions against Rochfort, on the coast of France, and Louisburg, in North America. They appeared to have been rather defectively attempted by the commanding officers, than injudiciously projected; and were more deplored than censured by the community. But he rapidly arranged the resources of the state, and gave equal proofs of spirit, wisdom, and integrity. When the courts of Russia, Denmark, and France, entered into a coalition, and shut our ships out of the Baltic; he immediately exemplified the vigour of his character, by despatching a squadron, which seized upon every Dutch vessel to be found at sea. This intrepid measure counteracted the danger; but it was necessary to repeat the blow; and he, therefore, concurred with his Majesty in arming 40,000 Hanoverians to assist the King of Prussia. It is by no means necessary to examine here, whether this policy was a renunciation of those principles upon which he had hitherto condemned the continental measures of the late ministry: when circumstances change, opinions must veer also, and it is manifest that the situation of Great Britain was at this conjuncture critical in the extreme. The confidence of our enemies was increased, and their force doubled; and thus the means which might have sufficed to overcome them before, could not possibly prove adequate to a deeper emergency. Pitt, therefore, was less an altered man than the victim of altered events; and he flourished in his versatility.

During one of the first interviews which took place between George the IInd. and Mr. Pitt, the following dialogue took place.

"Sire," said the minister, "give me your confidence, and I will deserve it." "Deserve my confidence," retorted the Sovereign, "and you shall have it." The test being now given, the conditions fol-lowed; and nothing could exceed the cordiality with which both parties henceforward co-operated in prosecuting the interests of the empire.

While the King was thus all assentation, and the Minister all alacrity, the Parliament proved equally unanimous and co-operative; the war therefore prospered gallantly, and France was comparatively distressed. The year 1758 was marked by exemplary successes. In Asia the French lost Massulipatam, and were defeated in two engagements at sea; in America, Louisburg, the forts Du Quesne and Frontiniac, and the Island of St. John, were taken; Senegal surrendered, on the coast of Africa; and in Europe the persevering boldness of Hawke was rewarded by a series of brilliant naval victories. Nor was the following year characterized by results less glorious. The fall of Quebec was immortalized by the death of Wolfe; and Ticonderago, Crownpoint, and Niagara, dropped successively before our arms. In the West Indies, Guadaloupe, Marie Galante, Desiderade, and other islands were captured. Havre was bombarded by Rodney, and Brest blockaded by Hawke; the Hanoverians in our pay won the battle of Minden; and on the 20th of November, the naval strength of France was annihilated in an engagement off Brest.

Such was the happy state of things in which George the IInd. was succeeded on the throne by his grandson George the IIIrd.; and a new body of men was immediately preferred to power. Almost on the instant Lord Bute, who had been the young monarch's tutor and friend, began to exert his pernicious influence; and a party was directly formed to eject Mr. Pitt, and grasp all the patronage of the nation within their own hands. No domestic intrigues, however, could counteract the advantages which his discernment had provided abroad. Thus Montreal and all Canada fell into our possession: the Islands of Martinique, St. Lucia, Grenada, and St. Vincent were seized; and Belleisle, on the coast of France, and Pondicherry, in Hindoostan, were taken. Meanwhile the secret coalition gradually prevailed; the policy of the triumphant minister was opposed in every quarter; and at last, after having brought the power of France, during an adminis

tration of only three years, to a lower ebb than it had been reduced by all the achievements of Marlborough in a ten years' war; he found himself outvoted in the council, and was obliged to vacate his office.

Whatever may have been the repugnance to Mr. Pitt's principles and person, as it was impossible to deny the greatness of his services, so it was deemed most prudent to recompense them with the customary honours. His lady was therefore gazetted Baroness Chatham, in her own right, with a reversion to her issue male, and an annuity of 3000l. for three lives was granted to support the dignity. Of these various matters an account was given by the late minister himself in a letter addressed to the Town-clerk of the city of London, which, to save a less interesting explanation, is inserted :

Dear Sir,

Finding to my great surprise, that the cause and manner of my resigning the seals is grossly misrepresented in the City, as well as that the most gracious and spontaneous marks of His Majesty's approbation of my services,-which marks followed my resignation,-have been infamously traduced, as a bargain for my forsaking the public; I am under the necessity of declaring the truth of both these facts, in a manner which, I am sure, no gentleman will contradict. A difference of opinion, with regard to measures to be taken against Spain, of the highest importance to the honour of the crown, and the most essential national interests,—and this founded on what Spain had already done, not on what that court may further intend to do-was the cause of my resigning the seals. Lord Temple and I submitted in writing, and signed by us, our most humble sentiments to His Majesty, which being overruled by the rest of the King's servants, I resigned the seals on Monday the 5th of this month, in order not to remain responsible for measures, which I was no longer allowed to guidé. Most gracious public marks of His Majesty's approbation of my services followed my resignation. They are unmerited and unsolicited, and I shall ever be proud to have received them from the best of sovereigns. I will now only add, my dear Sir, that I have explained these matters only for the honour of truth; not in any view to court return of confidence from any man, who, with a credulity as weak as it is injurious, has thought fit hastily to withdraw his good opinion from one who has served his country with fidelity and success; and who

justly reveres the upright and candid judgment of it, little solicitous about the censures of the capricious and ungenerous. Accept my sincerest acknowledgment for all your kind friendship, and believe me ever with truth and esteem,

Hayes,

Oct. 15, 1761.

My dear Sir,

Your faithful friend,

W. PITT.

His policy, however, was destined to prevail, and he triumphed alike whether in or out of place; for in the month of January the ministers were compelled to issue that declaration of war against Spain which he wished to have made. Being returned to the new Parliament for the city of Bath, he regarded measures rather than men, and gave his best advice for the prosperity of those projects which had been so reluctantly adopted after his instigation. To pursue the history of Lord Bute's unpopular administration were here out of place: it is enough to mention that, after a mean violation of the national pledges given to the King of Prussia, a peace which ought to have been dictated on the proudest terms, was conceded with advantages to the courts of France and Spain. When the treaty was laid before Parliament, Pitt took his seat, although labouring under the most excruciating illness, and spoke against the measure, leaning on two friends, until the House, moved by the victory of talent over suffering, gave him the unprecedented indulgence of delivering his sentiments seated. The speech lasted for three hours: he reviewed his own acts and the conduct of his opponents, with the greatest scope and perspicuity; he canvassed every article with the most forcible precision, and laid open the utter weakness of the proceeding with incontrovertible skill. The harangue was a conclusive exposition of the incapacity of government; the ministers tottered on to extinction; and two overtures were ineffectually made to associate Pitt in the administration—the one in 1763, the other in 1765. Upon both occasions he was honoured by a long conference with the King; but he pertinaciously objected to stand connected with Lord Bute; and the Marquis of Rockingham took the place of the latter at the head of the Treasury. Under this party it is to be remembered the American Stamp Act was passed into a law, an unfortunate measure, which was earnestly deprecated by Mr. Pitt.