with France has failed. It is time however to remark, that this concession is restricted to the circumstance of the aggrandizement of France; by which we mean the actual extension of French territory and authority. In that respect, undoubtedly, the failure has been most portentous, and the disappointment of mankind bitter indeed. Amidst the successive assaults which have threatened to overwhelm the revolutionary power, it has still appeared like the burning mountain cast into the sea in the Apocalypse, which, instead of being extinguished by the waves, converts them into blood. No sagacity has hitherto availed to discover the secret of the strong man's strength. Cords and manacles have repeatedly been prepared for him, and he has slumbered while they were binding on, only to rend them into shreds with his waking fury. The experiment, therefore, has thus far failed; and its failure has been signalized by the distress of nations,' and the subversion of the social system. Public law, the personification, as it were, of natural justice, which it was the glory of modern wisdom to have called up from the recesses where it had lain buried during the darkness of feudal barbarism, seems fast relapsing into its sleep of ages. The balance of power, which, like the balance of the zodiac, was the brilliant creation of theselater times, proves to be like that, a mere nonentity, the beautiful figment of philosophers, and destitute of all real influence on the fortunes of mankind.

On the first view of this widely-extended desolation, it might almost appear as if England, the single survivor of the wreck, had been spared only to tell the tale. The very mention, however, of that name, may suggest to our recollection how much is saved. The ark, if we may so express it, still floats on the waters. The experiment has, in this respect, succeeded in over-measure. It will be remembered, that one, at least, of the original objects of the war against France was the security of England; but the fact is, that she has been more than preserved; she has triumphed. In influence and in fame she perhaps occupies, at the present moment, a more exalted situation than at any former period. She has baffled the enemy in every effort against her native coasts, while at the same time she has trodden out the train of domestic sedition which he had laid within her bosom. Thrice, indeed, he has collected himself to assail the very citadel of her power; and thrice, by the determination and stern preparedness of her attitude alone, she has scared him from his purpose. Her financial resources have only been rooted by the storms which were intended to overthrow them. She is rampired about with the fleets that she has won ; and every bulwark which the maritime exertions of her opponents have erected against her, has only added a fresh enchasing to her mural crown. The vast system of communication which the destroyer attempted

to establish with the East, the bridge by which he arched over, not the Hellespont, but the Mediterranean, she has dashed to atoms. But the most striking part of this sublime exhibition consists in her domestic prosperity and her commercial vigour, when these are viewed on the dark ground of the wars which she is compelled to wage. At home, all is calm; and even abroad, she drives an extent of commerce which no other nation has ever attained, even with the advantage of the most profound tranquillity. Unlike the goddess of old, she has, as it were, wielded her weapons of celestial proof without once unclasping her garment of peace; and, amidst violence and tumult, she has displayed uninjured a robe whose richness would have shamed the woof of Ormus and the purple of Tyre.

It is impossible to contemplate this magnificent spectacle with. out paying a tribute of respect to the memory of the great Minister under whose auspices so much was accomplished. The colonial strength of old France, the navies of three nations, the resources of Egypt and of Syria-these were the engines by which the adversary attempted to overthrow the British empire. These were the arms which Mr. Pitt wrested from his grasp; and these, conqueror as that adversary was, Mr. Pitt might have inscribed to the Providence under whose protection he won them,

Eneas hæc de Danais victoribus arma.—

We have thus considered some of the principal features of Mr. Pitt's administration. There are however other parts of it of scarcely inferior importance, on which we feel no little anxiety to deliver our sentiments. But we fear that we have already continued these remarks to an unwarrantable extent, and have certainThe discussion of the ly too long forgotten the author before us. topics alluded to we must therefore be content to relinquish till another opportunity may lead us again to the tomb of Mr. Pitt.. In the mean time, we shall present our readers with the closing scene of that eminent man's life, and a sketch of his character as drawn by Mr. Gifford.

'Mr. Pitt's health experienced a rapid decline, in the autumn of 1805; and he was recommended to go to Bath, having, in a former illness, derived great benefit from the waters of that place, which, it was hoped, might still have a beneficial influence on a frame now reduced almost to the last stage of debility. He accordingly went thither in December. Soon after his arrival he had a fit of the gout; and thought himself better for a short time. But the gout appeared again during his stay at Bath; and he never afterwards recovered even a moderate degree of strength. His appetite almost entirely failed; and, it being deemed improper for him to drink the waters, he left Bath, and was in such a debilitated state, that he was four days on the road to Putney, at * Iliad. 33

VOL. IV. NO. VII.

which place he arrived, on the 11th of January, accompanied by Sir Waiter Farquhar, his medical attendant.

'When a consultation was held the next day, with Dr. Baillie and Dr. Reynolds, they told the Bishop of Lincoln, who had repaired to Putney, that they saw no danger, no disease, but great weakness, in consequence of the gout, and they thought he might recover in a few weeks. They stated the necessity of quiet; but the approaching meeting of Parliament, and the state of Mr. Pitt's affairs, were such as to leave him little prospect of enjoying it.

Mr. Pitt felt better on the Sunday; and on the Monday morning he took an airing in his coach; but, in the evening, Lord Castlereagh and Lord Hawkesbury, having obtained permission from the physicians to see him, entered upon some points of public business, probably relating to the dissolution of the new confederacy, by the peace of Presburgh, (which had been concluded about three weeks before) which visibly agitated and affected him. Mr. Pitt, after this interview, observed, that, during the conversation, he felt some sensation in his stomach which, he feared, it might be difficult to remove. On Tuesday, the 14th, Mr. Pitt again went out in his carriage, for the last time. His strength was manifestly diminished. On his return he saw his brother, Lord Chatham; and on Wednesday, the 15th, Mr. Rose was admitted to him for a few minutes, and was very much stricken by his emaciated appearance. He was able to take but very little nourishment; his powers of digestion were greatly impaired; and scarcely any thing would remain on his stomach. He seldom spoke, and displayed an anxiety to follow the directions of the physicians, "to be as quiet as possible, and completely to divest his mind of all public business." He desired the Bishop of Lincoln, who remained with him, from the period of his return from Bath to the day of his death, to open all his letters, and to communicate only such parts of them as he should consider it necessary for him to know.

'On the 17th, the physicians admitted that Mr. Pitt was much weaker, but still maintained that there were no unfavourable symptoms. -At the same time, they declared their opinion, that he would not be able to attend to business in less than two months, and expressed a doubt of his ability to take an active part, in the House of Commons, during the winter.

'The Bishop of Lincoln was, naturally, very urgent with the physicians to allow him to apprize Mr. Pitt of the probable duration of his confinement, in order that he might decide on the propriety of resigning, or of retaining, his office. But the physicians were unanimously, and decidedly, of opinion, that nothing should be said to their patient on the subject. Mr. Pitt daily grew worse; and on Monday, the 20th, the physicians declared," the symptoms were unpromising, and his situation was hazardous." In the evening of that day, he became much worse; and his mind, as is usual in cases of extreme debility, occasionally wandered. Sir Walter Farquhar passed the night by his bed-side, and, at four o'clock, on Wednesday morning, he called up the Bishop of Lincoln, telling him he was much alarmed, and could now no longer

object to any communication which the Bishop might think proper to make him. The Bishop, who appears never to have entertained those hopes which the medical attendants encouraged, had continually pressed the physicians to permit him to intimate to Mr. Pitt that his situa tion was precarious, in order that he might receive his instructions, respecting his affairs and papers, and call his attention to religious duties; but they had constantly affirmed, that they saw no danger, and could not sanction any proceeding which might create agitation of mind; as such agitation might be productive of serious mischief.

'The Bishop immediately went to Mr. Pitt's bed-side, and told him he found it to be his duty to inform him, that his situation was considered as precarious, and requested his leave to read prayers to him, and to administer the Sacrament. Mr. Pitt looked earnestly at the Bishop for a few moments, and then, with perfect composure, turned his head to Sir Walter Farquhar, who stood on the other side of the bed, and slowly said," How long do you think I have to live?" The physician answered, he could not say, and expressed a faint hope of his recovery. A half smile on Mr. Pitt's countenance shewed that he placed this language to its true account. In answer to the Bishop's request to pray with him, Mr. Pitt said,—“ I fear I have, like too many other men, neglected prayer too much to have any ground for hope, that it can be efficacious on a death-bed-but,"-rising as he spoke, and clasping his hands with the utmost fervour and devotion," I throw myself entirely" (the last word being pronounced with a strong emphasis) " upon the mercy of God, through the merits of Christ!" The Bishop assured him, that the frame of his mind, at this awful moment, was exactly such as might, reasonably, be expected, to render prayer acceptable and useful.

The Bishop then read prayers, and Mr. Pitt joined in them, with calm and humble piety. He repeatedly expressed, in the strongest manner, his sense of his own unworthiness to appear in the presence of God; disclaiming all ideas of merit, but with a conscience clear and undisturbed. He appealed to the Bishop's knowledge of the steadiness of his religious principles, and said it had ever been his wish and endeavour to act rightly; and to fulfil his duty to God and to the world; but that he was very sensible of many errors and failures. He declared that he was perfectly resigned to the will of God; that he felt no enmity towards any one; but died in peace with all mankind; and expressed his hope, at once humble and confident, of eternal happiness through the intercession of his Redeemer.

'Mr. Pitt desired that the settlement of his affairs and papers might be left to his brother and the Bishop of Lincoln. Adverting to his family, he said," I wish a thousand, or fifteen hundred, a year to be given to my nieces-if the public should think my long services de serving it; but I do not presume to think that I have earned it." He expressed great concern about Lady Hester and Mr. Stanhope, but his anxiety, on their account, seemed to be abated by the recollection that they had a father. He attempted to give some written directions re. specting the disposal of his papers; but, finding himself unable to write

legibly, he resigned the pen to the Bishop, who wrote what Mr. Pitt dictated. Mr. Pitt aftewards read what was written, and signed the different papers, in the presence of Sir Walter Farquhar, and of several of his servants, who had remained in the room a part of the time in which Mr. Pitt was engaged in religious duties, and heard this great and good man profess the faith, and hope, and charity, of an humbly pious Christian.

'Mr. Pitt was much exhausted by these exertions, and very soon grew much worse. About two o'clock on the Wednesday afternoon, he suffered much for some time, and seemed to struggle for breath. He then fell into a kind of stupor; but remained sensible almost to the last. About a quarter past four on Thursday morning, the twenty-third of January, 1806,-the anniversary of that day on which, five and twenty years before, he had first become a member of the British Senate,-he breathed his last, without struggle, and without pain. He was then in his forty-seventh year.'-Vol. iii. pp. 776-779.

'As a Statesman, the resources, as well as the firmness, of Mr. Pitt's mind, have been amply demonstrated by the measures which he adopted, to meet the various, and unforeseen, difficulties with which this nation was surrounded, during the period of his administration. Abroad, he had to struggle with the most gigantic power, which ever raised itself in opposition to the greatness of his country; while, at home, he had to support, at the same time, commercial and national credit, to allay the turbulent spirit of mutiny, to extinguish the raging flames of rebellion, to provide even for the importunate calls of famine. The energies of his mind were most eminently exerted upon those important occasions; and, in spite of internal distractions, he carried the power of the nation to a greater height than it had ever attained, at any former period.

'It will not soon be forgotten with what industry and effect he applied himself to the management of the revenue, and how speedily he restored order to the confused state of our finances. By simplifying the public accounts he rendered a subject easily intelligible, which had before been involved in extreme intricacy: and, by pointing out the defects of former plans, and suggesting new and more approved systems, he carried with him the sense of the nation in providing for that heavy expenditure, which the peculiar exigency of the times brought upon the State. Nor was he less fortunate in removing, upon difficult occasions, those embarrassments in which the trade of the country was involved, and which, at one period, threatened it with total stagnation; and when they, who, from their habitual pursuits, might have been thought best qualified, and most likely, to suggest a remedy for these evils, were lost in astonishment, distrust, and dismay, he dispelled their fears, as it were by a charm, revived the confidence of our merchants and manufacturers, and restored our commerce to its accustomed activity and enterprise. The plan of Commercial Exchequer Bills;-the establishment of the Sinking Fund;-the suspension of Cash Payments at the Bank;-the System of War Taxes;-were measures which originated, exclusively, with himself; and were calculated, with profound