صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

Once established as a public character, he lost no time in bringing forward his claims to distinction. He pronounced his maiden speech in support of Mr. Burke's bill for a reformation of the civil list, revenue, &c. and, though delivered with some embarrassment, it excited considerable attention, and no common praise. Without attaching himself particularly to any party, he opposed Lord North's administration, and the American' war; and, consequently, advocated, during the course of the session, many of those motions by which Mr. Fox and his friends prepared a way to their assumption of the reins of government.

This object was accomplished in 1782, and young Pitt was offered, but declined an official place. He did not, however, become, in any respect, an enemy to the new ministers; on the contrary, concurring with them in the liberal principles upon which they professed to act, he bore public testimony to their talents and their virtues, and gave a hearty vote in favour of the several important measures by which they signalized a brief interval of power. A general feeling of satisfaction then pervaded the nation, the strongest hopes of prosperity were entertained, and Mr. Pitt judiciously availed himself of a conjuncture so auspicious for the purpose of recommending a most popular remedy for the deep injuries which it was universally admitted the constitution of the country had received. He took up the essential question of Parliamentary reform, and, on the 7th of May, concluded a speech of great force, but of great temperance also, of sound views, and of discreet suggestions, by moving " for a committee to enquire into the state of the representation in Parliament, and to report to the House their observations thereupon." The effort was defeated at the onset, but it was hailed by the public with approbation, and tended, in a striking manner, to give importance to the character of the young statesman.

Long before the year closed, Mr. Fox, and his friends, resigned their situations, in consequence of the sudden death of Lord Rockingham, and the Earl of Shelburne was deputed by the King to compose a fresh ministry. Pitt was one of the first to whom application was made, and as he had the independence to provide, that, if employed at all, he should be employed in no secondary rank, he was gazetted Chancellor of the Exchequer in July, 1782. It thus became his boast to assume the

highest functions in the state upon the completion of his three and twentieth year. His triumph, however, was destined to be as short as the one enjoyed by the party to which he succeeded. Mr. Fox strangely united his influence with Lord North, and thus secured an irresistible majority in Parliament. The session opened on the 5th of December, and the cessation of hostilities with America was made the question of contest between the two sides of the House. But it was not to be concealed, that the difference was one more of men than of measures, and, according ly, much personality was resorted to by the adverse members, in which the youth and inexperience of the young Chancellor of the Exchequer formed a prominent feature. The array before him was most powerful, but that he met the torrent with a manly spirit and ample strength cannot be denied. In one only instance did he stoop from the confidence of superiority, and that was in reference to Mr. Sheridan, of whom he said, "that no man admired more than he did, the abilities of that right honourable gentleman, the elegant sallies of his thought, the gay effusions of his fancy, his dramatic turns, and his epigrammatic points: and if they were reserved for their proper stage, they would no doubt receive, what the right honourable gentleman's abilities did always receive-the plaudits of the audience; and it would be his fortune

Sui plausu guadere theatri.

But this was not the proper scene for the exhibition of these elegancies, and he must, therefore, beg leave to call the attention of the house to the serious consideration of the very important question before them."

This was a good sally, but it was directed against a formidable antagonist, and readily retorted; for Sheridan took occasion to `explain, "that on the particular sort of personality which the right honourable gentleman had thought proper to make use of, he need not offer any comment-the taste, the gentlemanly point of it must be obvious to the house. But," he added, " let me assure the right honourable, gentleman that I do now, and will at any time he chooses to repeat this sort of allusion, meet him with the most sincere good humour. Nay, I will say more-flattered by his panegyric upon my talents, if ever again I en

gage in the compositions he alludes to, I may be tempted to an act of presumption-to attempt an improvement on one of Ben Jonson's best characters-the character of the Angry Boy in the Alchymist."

And here, as a digression has been made, it may not prove inopportune to continue the custom already observed in the progress of these pages, and relieve the dryness of the narration by specimens of that oratory for which the subject of the sketch acquired celebrity. In this instance the quotation is made by.accident, but it cannot fail to supply an interesting proof of Mr. Pitt's abilities; for, though delivered in the first act of his career, it was inspired by a critical emergency, and addressed to a master of the art. The following speech was pronounced on the 21st of February, 1783, in reply to Mr. Fox, who pressed a motion, made by Lord John Cavendish, condemnatory of the peace and the ministry, in a long and nervous harangue :—

Sir, revering, as I do, the great abilities of the honourable gentleman who spoke last, I lament, in common with the house, when those abilities are misemployed, as on the present question, to inflame the imagination, and mislead the judgment. I am told, Sir, he does not envy me the triumph of my situation on this day: a sort of language which becomes the candour of that right honourable gentleman as ill as his present principles. The triumph of party, Sir, with which this self-appointed minister seems highly elate, shall never seduce me to any inconsistency which the busiest suspicions shall presume to glance at. I will never engage in political enmities without a public cause; I will never forego such enmities without the public approbation; nor will I be questioned and cast off in the face of this house by one virtuous and dissatisfied friend. These, Sir, the sober and durable triumphs of reason over the weak and profligate inconsistencies of party violence these, Sir, the steady triumphs of virtue over success itself, shall be mine, not only in my present situation, but through every future condition of my life: triumphs

* Alluding to Sir Cecil Wray, Mr. Powis, &c. who abandoned Mr. Fox after the coalition:

which no length of time shall diminish, which no change of principles shall ever sully.

"The fatal consequences of Tuesday's vote, which I then deprecated and foretold, is already manifest in this house; and it has been thought on all sides requisite to give a new stability to the peace, which that vote has already shaken. But the proof which the present motion is about to establish-that we are determined not to abide by this peace-is a declaration that we have examined terms, and have found them inadequate. Still less inconsistent is this extraordinary motion with the language of Tuesday. It was then urged that no sufficient time had been allowed to us to determine on the articles before us; and, in the short space of two days, we are ready to pass a vote of censure on what we declare we have not had leisure to discuss. This, Sir, is the first monstrous production of that strange alliance, which threatens once more to plunge this devoted country into all the horrors of another war.

"It is not, Sir, an exception to any single article, if wellfounded exceptions should really exist, that ought to determine the merits of this treaty. Private interests have their respective advocates, and subjects may be easily found for partial complaints; but private interest must bend to public safety. What these complaints may prove is yet unknown; for, whilst the honourable gentleman alone is describing with so much confidence the distress and dissatisfaction of trade, she herself is approaching the throne with effusions of gratitude and affection. The honourable gentleman has fairly stated the terms by which the merits of the peace are to be decided-the relative strength and resources of the respective powers at war. I will immediately meet him on

this issue.

"I shall begin, Sir, with a most important subject—the state of the British Navy; and shall refer myself for proofs of what I assert to the papers now lying on your table. This appeal, Sir, to solid and authentic documents, will appear the more just and necessary, when I acquaint the house, that a noble lord (Keppel), from whom the honourable gentleman professes to receive his naval information, has varied in his statement to the cabinet, no less than twenty sail of the line.

"We are nformed, Sir, from the papers before us, that the

British force amounted nearly to one hundred sail of the line, many of which had been long and actively employed on foreign stations. With diligent exertions, six new ships would have been added to the catalogue in March. The force of France and Spain amounted to nearly one hundred and forty sail of the line, sixty of which were lying in Cadiz harbour, stored and victualled for immediate service. Twelve ships of the line, including one built by the United States, had quitted Boston harbour, under Vaudrueil, in a state of perfect repair. An immense land armament was collected at St. Domingo; their seseveral forces were united in one object, and that object was the reduction of Jamaica. Who, Sir, can suppose with serious confidence, that Island could long have resisted a regular attack supported by 72 sail of the line. Admiral Pigot, after his reinforcement from Europe, would have commanded a fleet of only 46 sail of the line; and it has long been acknowledged in this house, that a defensive war was terminated in certain ruin. Would Admiral Pigot have undertaken at this time offensive operations against the islands of the enemy?—those islands upon which Lord Rodney, when flushed with victory, could not venture to attempt an impression? Would Admiral Pigot, Sir, have regained by arms what the ministers have recovered by treaty? Could he, in the sight of a superior fleet, have captured Grenada, Dominique, St. Kitts, Nevis, Monserrat? or might we not too reasonably apprehend the campaign of the West Indies would have closed with the loss of Jamaica itself, the remnant of our possessions in that part of the globe.

"Let us next consider our situation in the East. A mere defensive resistance, however glorious, had entitled Sir Edward Hughes to the thanks of this house; but his success, if it may be termed a victory, had not prevented the enemy from landing a greater European force than we actually possess in India, who, at this instant, are in conjunction with Hyder, subduing and desolating the Carnatic.

"The prospect is by no means brightened when we look forward to the probable operations in the channel, and in the Northern seas, during the course of the ensuing summer. Thirteen new sail of the line would have at that time been added to the fleet of France; and the Dutch force, as it has been actually stated by a

« السابقةمتابعة »