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THE

UNIVERSAL MAGAZINE.

No. XV......VOL. III,

For FEBRUARY 1805.

A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE RIGHT
HONOURABLE WILLIAM PITT, FIRST LORD
OF THE TREASURY, AND CHANCELLOR OF
THE EXCHEQUER,

[NEW SERIES.

to our unrestrained opinion on the merits and demerits of a firft minifter of state.

William Pitt, fon of the great William 'Pitt, as he was called, afterwards Earl of Chatham, was born the 28th of May, in the year 1759; and, though his father had other children, this was the object of his peculiar parental attention, from his early difcovering our hero to poffefs thofe growing talents for which he had himself been fo greatly diftinguished. The year in which our statesman was born was rendered memorable by the fuccefs of the British arms and the British flag in every quarter of the world, under the adminiftration of his honoured father. As foon as he had acquired a fufficient knowledge of the claffics, and the elements of the higher walks of literature, he was fent to the University of Cambridge. This was preferred by his father to the fifter University of Oxford, as the latter had long been branded with high prerogative principles, with monaftic manners, and with a predilection for a certain fcholaftic mode of reafoning by no means adapted to the genius of popular eloquence. Cambridge appeared to the eyes of this anxious and expecting parent, alfo, as a much fuperior feminary of learning for his fon, on account of its attachment to the old Whig fyftem of politics which he preached and practifed, as alfo for its fedulous attention to the expanding faculties of youth.

[With his Portrait.] OUR readers are not intentible of the difficult and in fome inftances the dangerous ground the biographer has to tread, who gives a sketch of the talents and character of a living perfon. As far, however, as the writer's talk is delicate or perilous, so far may it be rendered the more ufeful or inftructive, provided the object he would pourtray has attained a fufficient rank to deferve public attention. But the writer who feels bold, by his love of truth and the defire to promulgate it, cannot forget a hateful maxim in a late hoary-headed chief juftice, that a libel is not lefs fo because it contains the truth; nay, it went farther---as, the more it was the truth, the greater the libel. Now, though this was a maxim in an expounder of the law, God forbid it thould ever become an axiom or principle in the law itfelf: were it fo, the writer of the following itrictures would unqueftionably be expofed to much hazard, since the truth of them is out of all queftion. Cenfure, however, has not been the leading feature of cotemporary biography of thefe times: fulfome adulation and undeserved praife have been confidered as a more profitable ftyle of writing; and a reader of any modetty himfelf has been made to Mr. William Pitt must have very early wonder how fo much exalted encomium fignalized himself by his elocution and adcould be due to men whofe celebrity till dreis; for, as foon as he was qualified by that moment was unheard of. Patriotifm age, feveral of the gentlemen of that is certainly at a low ebb at this time in learned body, of which he was a graduthis country; nay, its very found is un- ate, hinted to him that, on the enfuing popular, except from the trumpet of our election, they fhould think him no imVolunteer cavalry, because it may be proper perion to reprefent them in parlithought to mean independence of mind, ament: that election, however, threatenand to thake the opinion of the public in ing to be a contefted one, he politely dethe conduct of our rulers. There is but clined interfering, and was therefore electone government in Europe where fuch ed for Poole, in Dorfetihire. He took language ought to have any weight :---it is his ftand, or rather feat, in parliament that of the papal ftates. Patriotilm is an among that highly refpected band of paunknown duty there, as celibacy is in triots who, animated by the enthusiasm of England, where we live not for ourselves public fpirit, and united by the great and alone, but for our pofterity. Let not our imminent dangers which threatened the motives, therefore, be mistaken or mifre- country, ftruggled fo long and fo magnaprefented, becaufe we fpeak of great men nimoully to recover the fallen credit and with great freedom. We will avoid ca- reftore the expiring vigor of the British lumny, and accordingly hope to efcape empire. Our young fenator was foon recenfure; and we feel convinced that none marked as well for his principles as for but the malignant will impute ill intention his eloquence; and the very firit fpeeck

VOL. III.

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98

he delivered arrested the attention and an affurance of future and speedy adexcited the admiration of his audience to vancement, he declined to accept it. The a wonderful degree. The houfe was often Rockingham adminiftration fucceeded, and overpowered in liftening to him, by the though the fyftem of politics adopted and recollection of his immortal father in the purfued by that nobleman's party differed animated fentiments, bold conceptions, but in a trifling degree from thofe of the and conftitutional language, of the fou. father and of the fon, yet our Mr. Pitt The talents of this young member did not never acted very cordially with them. a little contribute to halten the downfal There were reafons for this. It has been of that adminiftration which had long faid, that, at the time we are alluding to, been fupported by fecret influence, and he was under the political tuition and which, in proportion to its difmembering guidance of the then Earl of Shelburne. the empire, had increafed its debt. Ne- There are many reafons to believe that it vertheless, both fides of the house attend- was fo; for the ftratagem and intrigues of ed to him, if not with equa! gratification, that nobleman, and veteran politician, at leaft with equal admiration of his pow- produced their full effect upon the death ers. As the people hailed him the fa- of that noble marquis; and this calamity, viour of a finking state, he, in return for at that critical period, forms no inconfitheir confidence, entered as warmly into derable epoch in the political history of their cause and their wishes, and publick- this country. The many amiable qualily declared himself the champion of their ties and princely virtues of that illuftrious rights. The act which did him the great- character, for which he had been long fo eft credit was the readiness and zeal with greatly and fo justly beloved, rendered his, which he moved for a committee of the lofs the fubject of univerfal regret. The houfe, to confider or confult on the most minifterial arrangements he had made proper means of obtaining a more equal were upon a broad and folid bafis: but reprefentation of the people in parliament, when the keyftone of the main arch was The propofition was rejected, but it was gone, the fabric tottered, and in a fhort attended with beneficial effects; for it at- time fell to pieces. A contest between tracted, and continued to attract, general Lord Shelburne, the First Commissioner of attention for feveral years afterwards. the Treasury, and Mr. For, then SecreIn the year 1782 he propofed a fimilar but more fpecific meature, with no better fuccefs. In endeavouring to accomplish this defirable object, he not only exerted himfelf in parliament, but joined thofe of its friends out of doors. He affociated himself in efpecial manner with the men bers of the Quintuple Alliance, as it was called; in which number were found Major Cartwright, the Rev. Mr. Wycil, and His other choice friends to liberty. Grace the Duke of Richmond was one of the number of this club alfo. Upon General Conway's motion for ceafing to act offenfively against America, it was eaty to forefee that Lord North could not long remain in adminiftration. As foon, therefore, as this expected event happened, young Pitt became fuddenly and firangely difiant and referved in his carriage and behaviour to the great leaders of the fuccefsful oppofition. In this inftance Mr. Pitt teftified his fagacity and devotion to his own interest and elevation; for, upon drawing up the outlines of a new arrangement, he was offered to be made a lord of the admiralty. Now, though this offer was tendered with marks of refpect, and

tary of State, proved fatal to the whole
Rockingham party intereft. The confe-
quence was, the fecellion of Mr. Fox from
the cabinet; and this made room for the
fubject of this fketch to enter it with
profpects of felf-gratification. The Earl
of Shelburne propofed to remedy the ef-
fects of this fchifm in his majesty's coun-
cils, by giving to Mr. Pitt an oftenfible
place in adminiftration: he was accord-
ingly, in June 1782, promoted to be chan
cellor and under treasurer of the exche-
quer, and fworn a member of the privy
council. Since the administration of Lord
North commenced, in which nobleman's
perfon the offices of firft lord of the trea-
fury and chancellor of the exchequer
were united, the latter had become of
much more importance than the former,
and, in fact, the most important of any
under the crown, as its object is the
finances of the country, involving in that
account all our numerous refources by
A prodigious pa-
taxes, duties, &c. &c.
tronage mut neceffarily be connected
with this office, which has been known to
provide between fifty and fixty millions
of money within the year*!!! Various

A nobleman and writer of confiderable political knowledge has well obferved, that the influence which the disposal of fuch enormous fums, in the annual expences of the government, gives to the minifter, muft of itself be dangerous to the conftitution.

and vaft emoluments are alfo accumulat- fefs the genius, the fentiments, and the ed in thefe offices, and these enormous vigor of the father. A profufion of apfums were intended to compenfate for the plaufe muft neceffarily be poured out upgreat refponfibility fuppofed to be attach- on every act of fuch a perfon, which was ed to them, and the indefatigable labour likely to be attended with beneficial conthey require. But refponfibility is be- fequences to the kingdom. Whatever come a word of little fignification in a mi- difficulties the nation has fallen into, or nifter's vocabulary, fince a bill of indem- may fall into, under the administration of nity is effected with fuch eafe: and the this gentleman, the Earl of Shelburne, details of office are made out by clerks, now Marquis of Lanfdown, is not to be and other perfons bred up exprefsly for blamed for the policy of advifing the king the purpose, and therefore give very little to nominate him at that time. He had trouble to the perfons at the head of them. manifested a readiness for business, and Like Sir Robert Walpole, Mr. Pitt be- the finauces of the country were not the gan his political career at a very early moft flourishing: genius, addrefs, and his age; but the latter entered younger into art of perfuafion, were therefore thought office than the former, who in many re- neceffary to the prefervation of the fate. fpects might be confidered the great Befides, Mr. Fox, at this time, lay under archetype premier, etpecially in the de- a confiderable prejudice, which the unipartment of managing a house of commons. form correctnefs of his conduct fince (exA cirancellor of the exchequer, however, cept in the affair of the coalition) has, or at the age of twenty-three, was naturally ought to have, removed. The adminian object of curiofity and fpeculation. ftration we are fpeaking of was not long This was not all; for we had young fe- lived, but its tranfactions were fufficientcretaries of state, young bifhops, and even ly confpicuous. The peace of America a young speaker of the house of commons. was one of the works it accomplished, and Our juvenile minifter of that day refem- is entitled to the approval of every philobled the young Rofcius of the prefent: he fophic man in the kingdom. A great acted his part well, if he did not feel it, fhare of that approbation, we believe, is The multitude gazed on him as a fuper- due to Mr. Pitt. He delivered a masterly Batural being, capable of working mira- apology, in favour of himfelf and colcles. No man could enter on the fervice leagues, for the humiliation of the counof his country with a larger fhare of popu- try in fubmitting to a measure which, fome larity: all the predilection fo justly enter- few years before, it would have been altained for the father was now transferred moft treafon to anticipate. This peace, to the fon. His youth, which in more fo- however, was ftamped with the epithet of ber days would have been an object of inglorious (and it could not be otherwife) anxiety, if not of dread, operated as a by the adminiftration which fucceeded charm in his favour among the enthufi- the one we are fpeaking of; and though aftic, who reprefented it as no impedi- the whole cabinet had to encounter strong ment to his official capacity: as if the ta- marks of difapprobation, yet our young lents of a statesman could be inherited by chancellor of the exchequer was generaldefcent, like an eftate. Without a con- ly excepted from the reft, as being more ception of this nature, we are at a lofs to worthy than his coadjutors. The eclat account for the ftrange caprice of the hu- of his character followed him in his retirman mind in favour of this young man. ing from that cabinet. He was not out Nay, to fuch an extent was the infatua- of office a great while; but his promotion tion carried, and such the nature of the again to power was one of those dark and hyperbole applied to this political pheno- fecret evolutions in politics, of which the menon in difdaining all reasonable mea- ordinary minds of honest men can form fure, that a refpectable gentleman, one no opinion. The India Bills were the of the members for Amersham, named field of battle over which the political him, in exultation, the heaven-born mi- firength of two of the greateft champions in nifter. There were thofe, however, of politics that ever adorned any country greater reflection and penetration, who contended for victory :---it fell to the fhare confidered this proceeding as concerted, of Mr. Pitt. The one bill brought in by and partaking of the mixed nature of po- a no lefs illuftrious commoner, and still litical and theatrical: that this statesman more revered by his country, was oppofed by birth, or rather this idol, had been and contrafted by that of Mr. Pitt, which carved out by the skilful hand of a prac- followed it; the latter as being more in tifed artift. Be this as it may, there was favour of the rights and influence of the nothing outré in imagining the fon to pof- crown, and the former of those of the

people. To entertain a jutt conception draws his refults accordingly, whether of the powerful operation of thefe two fa- they may or may not be followed with mous bills on the mind of a certain great immediate gratification; how far, it is perfonage, it must be recollected that, afked, is fuch a man, with a great, proabout this time, a ftart or burit of free- fpective, and permanent intereft in the dom had diffused itself over Europe. The welfare of his country, entitled to be American revolution had been contem- placed on a level of rank and confidence plated at a distance from the spot where with the other, who, lefs extending his it had been effected. Philofophers and views, and calculating lefs upon those refoldiers of France had been fpectators of mote yet not lefs certain dangers, puts its progress, and had returned to their the whole upou a peril of his own feekcountry with accounts of the practical ing, the increase of which is obvious to means by which it was attained. It was every eye, while the means of its reimpofiible for a man of an enlarged intel- moval are out of the reach of almost every lect, of a retrospective eye, and a capa- understanding? The wheels on which city to judge of what may be the probable the government of this country is carried effect of a given caufe, not to yield in are now become fo multiplied, that fome degree to the growth and power of fcarcely any head and hand but those of public opinion. Mr. Fox did this: he the bold (the great, if you please) machawas defirous of throwing fomething into nifie, who improved upon the old ones, the fcale of the people, to preferve the can guide them. There are few, we have due libration of power, and obviate the reafon to believe, except among the most hazard and danger of the beam itself be- ignorant or the molt daring, who would ing broken by a violent commotion for willingly undertake the direction of fo preponderance. This is the true, the complex a machinery. Mr. Pitt's fituaundi guised, state of the cafe, as it would tion, therefore, is more eminent than enappcar, if the veil of apology on the one viable. fide, and the mafk of difguite or flattery on the other, were to be completely removed from the object of difpute. This fhort defcription of the cafe will be fufticient to account for Mr. Fox's bill pafting the House of Commons, and then thrown out of the Lords; and for Mr. Pitt's afterwards being carried through both with a high hand. It will be for time, the beft, the fureft commentary upon man's actions, to fhew which man of the two poffeffed the moft perfp.cacious judgment; and whether the experience of Mr. Fox or of Mr. Pitt was beit entitled to our confideration. Mr. Pitt has been greeted, in fong, as "the pilot who weathered the ftorm;" but that he has conducted us through the danger of it, no man can fafely affirm. He has manfully flood to the helm, it is true, and, with a kind of herculean ftrength of arm, has defended the bark from infidious and fudden af faults; yet the vetfel is fill at fea, and is farther from the fight of land;---at a great- We will now fpeak of the talent which er dittance from the defired port than ever. exclufively pertains to the management From this tranfient view of the state of of the affairs of the Houfe of Commons. things as they may be affected by the His eloquence is, undoubtedly, of the firit power and talents of thefe two great men, rate order. It is diflicult to conceive that it becomes a moft ferious confideration the Philippics of Demofthenes, or the with the fenfible people of this country, Orations of Cicero, could have exceeded how far the one, who, watching the progrefs fome of his fpeeches. They have been of opinion from the extenfion of knowledge and intellect, admits fuch changes into his councils and calculations, and

But, whatever may be the countenance Mr. Pitt derives from a certain quarter, or the majorities he poffeffes in the Houfe of Peers, it is not natural that he should be refpected by the Houfe of Commons: he re-entered office in the moft open defiance of their opinions and their authori ty: he may, therefore, be a minitier of the crown, but he cannot be called the man of the people.

We have no prejudice against this extraordinary character; we have no prepoffeffions in favour of his antagonift: we fay of him what we faid of Lord Sidmouth when in his situation,---we wish for that which we fear cannot be obtained. The fum total of Mr. Pitt's political merits and demerits as a minifter have been concifely fiated by his great rival in these few words; that "he is a minilter who has laid more burdens on the people of England, and abridged them of more liberty, than any one of his predeceffors."

liftened to for hours by critics who were unable to exchange an epithet for the better. In this refpect we cannot but think

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