William Pitt, 1708--1778, one of the ablest statesmen and orators of his
time, was born in Cornwall, and educated at Eton and Oxford. He entered
Parliament in 1735, and became a formidable opponent of the ministry of
Sir Robert Walpole. He gained great reputation by his wise and vigorous
management of military affairs in the last years of the reign of George
II. He opposed the "Stamp Act" with great earnestness, as well as the
course of the ministry in the early years of the American Revolution. In
1778, he rose from a sick bed to make his celebrated speech, in the House
of Lords, in opposition to a motion to acknowledge the independence of
America. At its close, he fell in an apoplectic fit, and was borne home to
die in a few weeks afterward. He was buried in Westminster Abbey. Mr. Pitt
possessed a fine personal presence and a powerful voice; he was very
popular with the people, and is often called the "Great Commoner." He was
created "Earl of Chatham" in 1766.
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The atrocious crime of being a young man, which the honorable gentleman
has, with such spirit and decency, charged upon me, I shall neither
attempt to palliate nor deny; but content myself with hoping that I may be
one of those whose follies cease with their youth, and not of that number
who are ignorant in spite of experience. Whether youth can be imputed to a
man as a reproach, I will not assume the province of determining; but
surely age may become justly contemptible, if the opportunities which it
brings have passed away without improvement, and vice appears to prevail
when the passions have subsided. The wretch, who, after having seen the
consequences of a thousand errors, continues still to blunder, and whose
age has only added obstinacy to stupidity, is surely the object either of
abhorrence or contempt, and deserves not that his gray hairs should secure
him from insult. Much more is he to be abhorred, who, as he has advanced
in age, has receded from virtue, and become more wicked--with less
temptation; who prostitutes himself for money which he can not enjoy, and
spends the remains of his life in the ruin of his country.
But youth is not my only crime; I am accused of acting a theatrical part.
A theatrical part may either imply some peculiarity of gesture, or a
dissimulation of my real sentiments, and an adoption of the opinions and
language of another man. In the first sense, the charge is too trifling to
be confuted, and deserves only to be mentioned that it may be despised. I
am at liberty, like every other man, to use my own language; and though,
perhaps, I may have some ambition to please this gentleman, I shall not
lay myself under any restraint, nor very solicitously copy his diction or
his mien, however matured by age, or modeled by experience.
But, if any man shall, by charging me with theatrical behavior, imply that
I utter any sentiments but my own, I shall treat him as a calumniator and
a villain; nor shall any protection shelter him from the treatment he
deserves. I shall, on such an occasion, without scruple, trample upon all
those forms with which wealth and dignity intrench themselves, nor shall
anything but age restrain my resentment; age,--which always brings one
privilege, that of being insolent and supercilious, without punishment!
But, with regard to those whom I have offended, I am of opinion that, if I
had acted a borrowed part, I should have avoided their censure: the heat
that offended them was the ardor of conviction, and that zeal for the
service of my country which neither hope nor fear shall influence me to
suppress. I will not sit unconcerned while my liberty is invaded, nor look
in silence upon public robbery. I will exert my endeavors, at whatever
hazard, to repel the aggressor, and drag the thief to justice, whoever may
protect him in his villainies, and whoever may partake of his plunder.