William Pitt, Earl of Chatham: Second EssayMaynard, Merrill, & Company, 1892 - 110 pages |
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administration affairs Bedfords Bill British brother-in-law Bute's cabinet Chancellor character Charles Townshend chief colonies Conway corruption court debate dictionary Duke of Cumberland Duke of Grafton Earl of Chatham eloquence enemies England English Exchequer faction favorite France George Grenville George III George the Second George the Third hand head Henry Fox honor House of Commons House of Hanover House of Lords Jacobite King King's friends London Lord Bute Lord Chatham Lord Rockingham Macaulay Macaulay's first Essay Majesty mind ministry nation never Newcastle opposition orator pages notes pages text pages vocabulary palace Parliament peace Pitt's political popularity prime minister Prince Princess Mother privy seal reign of George retired Richard Cromwell royal scarcely Scots Secretary seemed soon sovereign Spain spirit Stamp Act statesman talents Temple throne tion Tory treasury treaty vote Walpole Whig connection whole Wilkes William Pitt
Popular passages
Page 106 - If I were an American as I am an Englishman, while a foreign troop was landed in my country, I never would lay down my arms — never, never, never!
Page 82 - I REJOICE that America has resisted — three millions of people so dead to all the feelings of liberty as voluntarily to submit to be slaves, would have been fit instruments to make slaves of all the rest.
Page 110 - High over those venerable graves towers the stately monument of Chatham, and from above, his effigy, graven by a cunning hand, seems still, with eagle face and outstretched arm, to bid England be of good cheer, and to hurl defiance at her foes.
Page 58 - Dashwood's financial statement had been confused and absurd beyond belief, and had been received by the House with roars of laughter. He had sense enough to be conscious of his unfitness for the high situation which he held, and exclaimed in a comical fit of despair, "What shall I do? The boys will point at me in the street, and cry, 'There goes the worst Chancellor of the Exchequer that ever was.
Page 108 - ... and compassion. The stillness was so deep that the dropping of a handkerchief would have been heard. The Duke of Richmond replied with great tenderness and courtesy ; but, while he spoke, the old man was observed to be restless and irritable. The Duke sat down. Chatham stood up again, pressed his hand on his breast, and sank down in an apoplectic fit. Three or four lords who sat near him caught him in his fall. The House broke up in confusion. The dying man was carried to...
Page 110 - Chatham sleeps near the northern door of the church, in a spot which has ever since been appropriated to statesmen, as the other end of the same transept has long been to poets ; Mansfield rests there, and the second William Pitt, and Fox and Grattan, and Canning and Wilberforce. In no other cemetery do so many great citizens lie within so narrow a space.
Page 9 - ... carrying this intention into effect. Nor can we regret the delay. For the materials which were within our reach in 1834 were scanty and unsatisfactory, when compared with those which we at present possess. Even now, though we have had access to some valuable sources of information which have not yet been opened to the public, we cannot but feel that the history of the first ten years of the reign of George the Third is but imperfectly known to us. Nevertheless, we are inclined to think that we...
Page 85 - Two great orators and statesmen, belonging to two different generations, repeatedly put forth all their powers in defence of the bill. The House of Commons heard Pitt for the last time, and Burke for the first time, and was in doubt to which of them the palm of eloquence should be assigned. It was indeed a splendid sunset and a splendid dawn.
Page 110 - Chatham, and from above, his effigy, graven by a cunning hand, seems still, with eagle face and outstretched arm, to bid England be of good cheer, and to hurl defiance at her foes. The generation which reared that memorial of him has disappeared. The time has come when the rash and indiscriminate judgments which his contemporaries passed on his character may be calmly revised by history. And history, while, for the warning of vehement, high, and daring natures, she notes his many errors, will yet...
Page 50 - In truth, those who knew his habits tracked him as men track a mole. It was his nature to grub underground. Whenever a heap of dirt was flung up, it might well be suspected that he was at work in some foul, crooked labyrinth below.