Parliament for abolishing the proprietary governments, and placing the
colonies immediately under royal control: the bill, however, was dropped
before he arrived. He enjoyed Anne’s favour, as he had that of her
father and uncle, and resided much in the neighbourhood of the court, at
Kensington and Knightsbridge. In his religious labours he continued
constant, as heretofore. He was much harassed by a law-suit, the result
of too much confidence in a dishonest steward: which being decided
against him, he was obliged for a time to reside within the Rules of the
Fleet Prison. This, and the expenses in which he had been involved by
Pennsylvania, reduced him to distress, and in 1709, he mortgaged the
province for £6,600. In 1712 he agreed to sell his rights to the
government for £12,000, but was rendered unable to complete the
transaction by three apoplectic fits, which followed each other in quick
succession. He survived however in a tranquil and happy state, though
with his bodily and mental vigour much broken, until July 30, 1718, on
which day he died at his seat at Rushcomb, in Berkshire, where he had
resided for some years.
His first wife died in 1693. He married a second time in 1696; and left
a family of children by both wives, to whom he bequeathed his landed
property in Europe and America. His rights of government he left in
trust to the Earls of Oxford and Powlett, to be disposed of; but no sale
being ever made, the government, with the title of Proprietaries,
devolved on the surviving sons of the second family.
Penn’s numerous works were collected, and a life prefixed to them, in
1726. Select editions of them have been since published. Mr. Clarkson’s
‘Life,’ Proud’s ‘History of Pennsylvania,’ and Franklin’s ‘Historical
Review, &c. of Pennsylvania,’ for a view of the exceptions which have
been taken to Penn’s character as a statesman, may be advantageously
consulted.
[Illustration: [From West’s picture of the Treaty between Penn and the
Indians.]]
[Illustration:
_Engraved by W. Holl._
DE THOU.
_From a Picture by Ferdinand, in the Royal Library, Paris._
Under the Superintendence of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful
Knowledge.
_London, Published by Charles Knight & C^o. Ludgate Street._
]
[Illustration]
DE THOU.
Jacques Auguste de Thou, whom it is no exaggerated praise to call the
greatest writer of contemporary history that has appeared since the
extinction of Roman literature, was descended of a noble family of the
Orleanois; and his immediate ancestors for three generations had filled
with honour the higher legal offices of the realm. He was born in Paris,
October 9, 1553. His temper was naturally studious; but the extreme
weakness of his childhood interfered greatly with the early cultivation
of his mind, and almost incapacitated him for severe application. He
received, however, the best instruction which Paris could afford, until
1570, when he went to the University of Orleans to study law. Thence he
removed to Valence in Dauphiny, to attend the lectures of the celebrated
civilian Cujas.
De Thou returned to Paris in 1572, and meaning to take orders, applied
himself principally to the study of Greek and of the canon law. In the
next year he visited Italy in the train of Paul de Foix, ambassador of
France to the Pope and other Italian sovereigns, and employed himself
diligently and profitably in cultivating the acquaintance of learned
men, and in collecting materials for his history, the design of which he
had already conceived. He returned to Paris in 1575, and during four
years applied himself chiefly to study, taking various occasions to
extend his travels into Flanders and Germany. In 1578 he was appointed
Conseiller-clerc to the parliament of Paris, and in 1581, one of a
commission sent into Guienne, to provide for the better administration
of justice, which had been greatly impeded by religious dissension.
Returning to Paris in November, 1582, immediately after the decease of
his father, and having become the head of his family by the death of two
elder brothers, he determined to abandon the ecclesiastical profession,
and exchanged his place of Conseiller-clerc, for the lay appointment of
Maître des Requêtes. In 1586 he obtained the reversion of the office of
Président à Mortier, held by his uncle Augustin de Thou; and having
obtained a dispensation from the ecclesiastical engagements which he had
contracted, he married, in 1587, Marie de Barbanson.
When the Parisians embraced the party of the League, in 1588, and Henry
III. was obliged to quit the capital, De Thou followed the person and
fortunes of the monarch, and received a commission to travel through
Normandy and Picardy, to sound the intentions, and, if possible, to
secure the adherence of the authorities, civil and military, of those
provinces. His services were rewarded by the dignity of Conseiller
d’État. In the autumn he was present at the convention of the States at
Blois; but he returned to Paris before the murder of the Duke of Guise.
He was not informed of the intention to commit that crime; and he
believed, from certain peculiarities of behaviour, that the king had
sent for him expressly to communicate that intention, but had changed
his mind during the course of the interview. In the tumults which took
place on the arrival of the news at Paris, De Thou’s life was in
considerable danger, until he effected his escape under the disguise of
a soldier, and returned to Blois.
De Thou laboured to induce Henry III. to reconcile himself sincerely to
the King of Navarre; and being engaged in a journey to raise supplies of
men and money in Germany and Italy when the former was assassinated, he
returned with all haste to tender his allegiance to the new monarch,
Henry IV., by whom he was favourably received, and employed in the most
important and confidential negotiations. Of this period of his life, and
of its ill requital, he has spoken with considerable bitterness in a
letter dated March 31, 1611, to his friend the President Jeannin, and
written, it is to be observed, in a moment of considerable
mortification, because his claims to the office of First President had
been passed over in favour of M. de Verdun. “I remained,” he says,
“after returning from Italy, in Henry IV.’s camp for five years, except
when commissioned to repair to Tours, where the Parliament was then
held, or to visit other parts of the kingdom upon business. At last,
after the king was crowned at Chartres, and the surrender of Paris,
being restored to my library and my home, I thought myself sufficiently
repaid for my labours, in enjoying, with a sound conscience and
unstained fidelity to my sovereign, the benefits of the peace, expecting
that the king would do something for me, in remembrance of those five
years of service in the camp, during which I hardly quitted his side.
Throughout that time I was in the greatest need of all things, being
deprived of all my means by the war, and having served the whole time at
my own cost, without pay or fee. And the king himself used to say that I
was very different from other men, inasmuch as I, though a constant
loser, made no complaints, while others, who were every day profiting by
the public misfortunes, used diligently to complain of their own losses.
Which in truth was complimentary enough; but this praise was my only
payment for past labours: for the king’s temper changed with his
fortune, and I learnt, at my own expense, how fleeting is the favour of
princes, and how ready they are in prosperity to forget past sufferings,
and to take the mention of them by their fellow-sufferers as a
reproach.”
“For two years,” he continues, “nothing was said of me, until the
Protestants again made inconvenient demands, and I was selected by the
king with full powers to hear their complaints.” These were the disputes
which were terminated in 1598, by the publication of the celebrated
Edict of Nantes. De Thou was very reluctant to undertake this office,
foreseeing that it would involve him in great odium. Nor was he mistaken
in this respect. He was a zealous advocate of toleration: and his
liberality of spirit, manifested upon this and on other occasions, but
most of all in the unsparing impartiality of his History, placed him,
though a Catholic, in bad odour at the court of Rome, by whose influence
with the Queen Regent, after the death of Henry IV., he was frustrated
in the chief object of his ambition, that of succeeding to the office of
First President of the Parliament of Paris, which became vacant in 1611.
To that of Président à Mortier he had succeeded in 1595, by his uncle’s
death. He was deeply mortified at this slight, and meditated the
resignation of all his offices: and he has strongly expressed his sense
of the weight of his claims, and of the injury done to him by thus
overlooking them, in the letter to the President Jeannin, part of which
we have just quoted. The first suggestion of pique, however, was
overruled by his friends. He was appointed one of the directors-general
of finance, after the death of Henry IV., and consequent resignation of
Sully, in 1610, and was consulted by the Regent in almost all matters of
delicacy and importance. His leisure moments during these last years
were devoted to his History, which he did not live to bring down to its
intended point of conclusion, the death of Henry IV. He died May 7,
1617, leaving three sons and three daughters by a second marriage: his
first wife, childless, died in 1601. The eldest of these, François
Auguste de Thou, is known in history by having suffered death with
Cinq-Mars, in the reign of Louis XIII., for an alleged conspiracy
against the state, the real object of which was the overthrow of
Cardinal Richelieu.
In 1593 De Thou was appointed principal librarian to Henry IV.; and by
his advice the valuable library of Catherine de’ Medici was purchased,
and the foundation was laid of that splendour and importance which the
Bibliothèque du Roi has since attained. He had himself brought together
a very excellent library, a large part of which has since passed into
the royal collection. He was a steady friend and favourer of learning
and learned men; a zealous, faithful, and disinterested subject; an able
statesman; an upright and enlightened magistrate: and his life, both in
public and private, displayed the same undeviating integrity and love of
truth, which especially distinguish him as an historian.
De Thou began to write his great work, the History of his own Times, in
1591: but, as has been already stated, he had been engaged from early
youth in collecting materials for it, and his own description of the
pains which he bestowed on the task, will convey the best idea of his
zeal and industry. We quote again from the letter to the President
Jeannin. “Having always received great pleasure from the perusal of
history, and being of opinion that men are to be formed for happiness by
examples, as well as precepts, I came to the conclusion, that by
undertaking a history of my own time, beginning where Paulus Jovius left
off, I should do what would be useful to my country, and honourable to
myself. Resolute in this purpose even from boyhood, I laboured
afterwards, in my travels, at the bar, in embassies, in the employments
of war and peace, for this one object, that when leisure came for the
execution of it, I might have all things necessary to my purpose
provided. All printed histories I purchased, unprinted ones I procured
to be copied, I consulted the notes of military commanders, the records
of embassies, the papers of secretaries to kings. I also acquired a
great deal of knowledge from the confidential conversations of
illustrious men who were my seniors, and weighed, by their judgment and
candour, the contradictory reports of party spirit. Thus prepared, I
began to compose my History, while the civil war still raged; and I call
on God, who gave me strength and understanding to complete a work of
such magnitude, amidst such troubles and employments, to witness my
entire and uncorrupted honesty, unswayed either by fear or favour, and
that I had no other end in view but the glory of God, and the benefit of
the public. In style, eloquence, perspicuity, depth of thought, I
confess myself inferior to many: in good faith and diligence I yield to
none who have preceded me in this kind of composition; and I refer this
point to the judgment of posterity.” He proceeds to speak of his full
knowledge that the tenor of the book would involve him in broils and
danger, and expresses a wish that he could have published it
anonymously. But he was prepared, he adds, to sacrifice court favour,
fortune, and his good name with the public, rather than, by an excess of
prudence, throw a shade of discredit upon a work which he had composed
with such lofty ends, and with so great labour. He was not wrong in his
anticipations. It was impossible honestly to write the history of the
stormy and profligate times in which he lived, without saying much that
would shock religious zeal, offend party spirit, and raise up bitter
enemies in those whose misdeeds were openly and unsparingly brought to
light and condemned. De Thou, himself a Catholic, recognised the
existence of virtue and talent among the Reformers, and exposed the
selfish schemes and atrocious cruelties, which had been formed and
exercised under the cloak of maintaining true religion. This was enough
to bring on him the hatred of those who still clung to the principles of
the League, and the enmity of the court of Rome, which in 1609 placed
his History in the list of forbidden books, and, as has been said,
exerted its influence with success in 1611, to prevent his promotion. In
a Latin epitaph, which he composed for his own tomb, after a solemn
declaration of his orthodoxy, he demands, as the only favour which he
has to ask of men, to be more kindly treated by them after his death
than he had been before it. Posterity at least has responded to the
appeal, and by its admiration of the very qualities which involved him
in his mortifications, has done him ample justice for the jealousy of
Rome, and for the lukewarmness of the master whom he had well served
through bad and good fortune.
The History is written in Latin: the style is good, but it is disfigured
by the affectation not only of Latinizing names, but of expressing
modern offices by classical phrases, which of necessity bear a very
forced, or no analogy to the things which they are tortured to denote.
For instance, it would be difficult to recognise the Constable of France
under the title Magister Equitum. This makes the assistance of an
explanatory dictionary very requisite, and such a one was published by
Jacques Dupuy, in 1634, under the title, Index Thuani. The History is
comprised in 138, or, as divided in some editions, into 143 books; and,
in the London edition of 1733, fills six ponderous folios. In the
relation of foreign affairs, De Thou’s authority is less valuable, for
it is stated that he received with little examination the accounts which
were transmitted to him from abroad: but for the history of France
during the sixteenth century, his work is the standard authority on
which later writers have relied. The best and wisest men of all parties
have joined, since his death, in according to him the praise of strict
integrity and impartiality, a generosity of temper which scorned to
suppress or pervert the truth, and great diligence, as well as unusual
opportunities, in ascertaining the real course of events. It is not
meant to claim for him an entire exemption from the errors of limited
information, or the faults of temper and prejudice: defects such as
these are incident to all human productions. It is to be observed that
the heaviest charges against him on this head have been made by those
who were of his own religion.
The first portion of this work was published in 1604, comprising the
first eighteen books, with the letter to Henry IV., which serves as a
preface. This, which was translated into French, and published
separately, has obtained great admiration, as one of the finest
specimens extant of this branch of composition. De Thou published the
remainder at different times, and superintended several editions.
Prudential considerations induced him to make some changes and
suppressions, but upon his death-bed he entrusted a perfect manuscript
copy to his friends Peter Dupuy and Rigault, with injunctions to publish
it. The passages expunged by De Thou himself were subsequently collected
and published in Holland, under the title, Thuanus Restitutus. But the
most complete edition is that of London, 1733, from the collections and
papers of Carte the historian, which were purchased for that purpose by
Dr. Mead. This consists of six splendid folio volumes, with a seventh,
containing De Thou’s autobiography, and a variety of supplementary
pieces. The Eloges of learned men, to the number of 400 and upwards,
contained in the History, were extracted and published in a body by
Antoine Teissier. The whole has been translated into French.
A doubt has been expressed whether the Latin memoirs which profess to be
written by De Thou, proceed from his own pen, or from that of Rigault.
They are translated into French, and printed by themselves. They are
interspersed with many pieces in Latin verse, which De Thou took
pleasure in composing, and wrote with elegance. He composed a poem on
Hawking, entitled “Hieracosophion”, and translated the Book of Job, and
several portions of the Prophecies. The gleanings of his conversation,
extant under the title Thuana, are scarcely worthy of his high
reputation.
[Illustration:
_Engraved by W. Holl._
LORD CHATHAM.
_From a Print by E. Fisher, after a Picture by R. Brompton_.
Under the Superintendence of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful
Knowledge.
_London, Published by Charles Knight & C^o. Ludgate Street._
]
[Illustration]
CHATHAM.
William Pitt, the first Earl of Chatham, was born in Westminster,
November 15, 1708. He was sent to Eton at an early age, and admitted a
gentleman-commoner of Trinity College, Oxford, in January, 1726. His
father, Robert Pitt, Esq., of Boconnock, in Cornwall, died in the
following year, and left to him the scanty inheritance of a younger son.
He quitted Oxford without taking a degree; spent some time in travelling
on the Continent; and entered the army shortly after his return. He
obtained a seat in Parliament for Old Sarum in 1735, and attached
himself to the party in opposition, then headed in the lower house by
the Pulteneys, and favoured in the upper by the Prince of Wales. His
known talents, and his determined hostility, soon drew upon him the
anger of Sir Robert Walpole, who is reported to have said, “We must at
all events muzzle that terrible cornet of horse.” Failing in this, he
had recourse to a method of revenge which would not have been tolerated
in later times, and took away Pitt’s commission. For this injury,
however, the sufferer received an ample recompense in the increased
estimation of the public.
Pitt spoke with great ability and energy, in 1739, against the proposed
convention with Spain, and in 1740, against a bill introduced to
facilitate the impressment of seamen, containing very arbitrary and
oppressive provisions. Many of his speeches have been preserved, to a
certain extent, in the periodical works of the day; though it is
probable, from the very imperfect mode of reporting which then
prevailed, that little remains of their original garb of words. Walpole
was compelled to resign in 1742; but, with his usual dexterity, he
contrived, by disuniting the opposition, to secure himself from the
consequences of an inquiry into his conduct. Pitt spoke with much heat
and eloquence in favour of the inquiry; and two of his speeches on this
subject are reported at considerable length. He obtained no share in the
ministry upon Walpole’s fall, and continued to be a leader in opposition
during the years 1742–3–4. More especially he was earnest in reprobation
of the Hanoverian policy, which was supposed at that time to have an
undue preponderance in our councils: and his pertinacity on this point
engendered in the breast of George II. a strong personal dislike, which
is said to have prevented his admission into that which was whimsically
termed the “broad-bottomed administration,” formed at the close of 1744.
In that autumn he received a bequest of £10,000 from the celebrated
Duchess of Marlborough, “upon account of his merit, in the noble defence
he has made for the support of the laws of England, and to prevent the
ruin of his country.”
Pitt was assured by the Pelhams, that as soon as the King’s antipathy
could be removed, his services would be secured to the government: and
he accordingly received the appointment, of Vice-treasurer of Ireland,
February 22, 1746, and, May 6, was promoted to the office of
Paymaster-general. In the latter capacity he showed his superiority to
pecuniary corruption, by foregoing the profit which it had been usual to
derive from the large balances retained in that officer’s hands, and by
rejecting other lucrative perquisites of office. But he has incurred the
charge of political dishonesty, by supporting measures, as a minister,
analogous in character to those which, under former governments, he had
so strongly condemned. On this subject we may quote the words of a
recent writer on the history of parties in England. “By the absorption
into the government of almost all its leaders and chief orators, the
opposition was for some time reduced in Parliament to extreme
insignificance. Mr. Pitt was now one of the most determined supporters
of the very measures which the first ten years of his parliamentary life
had been spent in condemning and opposing. Nor did he scruple to avow
his change of opinion. In reference, for instance, to the claim of
exemption from search for British ships when found near the coast of
Spanish America, which, urged by the opposition in the time of Sir
Robert Walpole, had involved the country in a war with Spain, and was
afterwards abandoned at the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle by the government
of which Pitt was a member, he said in the House of Commons that he had
indeed once been an advocate for that claim; but it was when he was a
young man; he was now ten years older, and having considered public
affairs more coolly, was convinced it could not be maintained. In the
same manner very much of his old jealousy of military power and of the
prerogative appears to have evaporated in the cooler consideration which
he had now been enabled to give to such matters. We do not profess to
doubt the perfect honesty of Mr. Pitt in this change of sentiment; and
we may also think that his more matured opinions were, upon the whole,
more rational than those of his fervid and impetuous nonage as a
politician; but the facts (which only furnish an instance of what has
often happened) are worth recording as a lesson for such as are capable
of understanding it.” It is to be recollected, that the remarkable
events of 1745–6 may very well have modified Mr. Pitt’s opinions with
respect to the maintenance of a standing army.