measures which led to the American war: and long after his retirement
from office, he exerted himself most zealously to bring about a
reconciliation between the mother-country and her colonies; But when
the Duke of Portland, in 1778, moved an address to the crown, on the
necessity of acknowledging the independence of America, Lord Chatham,
although he had but just left a sick bed, opposed the motion with all
the ardent eloquence of his younger days. "My lords," said he, "I
lament that my infirmities have so long prevented my attendance here,
at so awful a crisis. I have made an effort almost beyond my strength
to come down to the house on this day, (_and perhaps it will be the
last time I shall be able to enter its walls_,) to express my
indignation at an idea which has gone forth of yielding up America. My
lords: I rejoice that the grave has not yet closed upon me; that I am
still alive to lift up my voice against the dismemberment of this
ancient and most noble monarchy. Pressed down, as I am, by the hand of
infirmity, I am little able to assist my country in this most perilous
conjuncture; but, my lords, while I have sense and memory, I will
never consent to deprive the royal offspring of the house of Brunswick
of their fairest inheritance."
The Duke of Richmond having replied to this speech, Lord Chatham
attempted to rise again, but fainted, and fell into the arms of those
who were near him. The house instantly adjourned, and the earl was
conveyed home in a state of exhaustion, from which he never recovered.
His death took place at Hayes, early in the following month, namely,
on the 11th of May, 1778. The House of Commons voted the departed
patriot, who had thus died gloriously at his post, a public funeral,
and a monument in Westminster abbey at the national expense. An income
of four thousand pounds per annum was annexed to the earldom of
Chatham, and the sum of twenty thousand pounds cheerfully granted to
liquidate his debts: for, instead of profiting by his public
employments, he had wasted his property in sustaining their dignity,
and died in embarrassed circumstances.
In figure, Lord Chatham was eminently dignified and commanding. "There
was a grandeur in his personal appearance," says a writer, who speaks
of him when in his decline, "which produced awe and mute attention;
and, though bowed by infirmity and age, his mind shone through the
ruins of his body, armed his eye with lightning, and clothed his lips
with thunder." Bodily pain never subdued the lofty daring, or the
extraordinary activity of his mind. He even used his crutch as a
figure of rhetoric. "You talk, my lords," said he, on one occasion,
"of conquering America--of your numerous friends there--and your
powerful forces to disperse her army. I might as well talk of driving
them before me with this crutch."
CHARLES JAMES FOX.
Charles James Fox was the third son of Henry Fox, Lord Holland, and
was born January 24th, 1749. His mother was a daughter of the Duke of
Richmond, and his sister the wife of Lord Cornwallis. Lord Holland
made it a rule, in the tuition of his children, to follow and
regulate, but not to restrain nature. This indulgence was a sad error,
as it always is on the part of parents. On arriving to maturity,
Charles used to boast that he was, when young, never thwarted in any
thing. Two instances are related of this indulgence of the father,
before the son was six years old. One day, standing by his father,
while he was winding up a watch--"I have a great mind to break that
watch, papa," said the boy. "No, Charles; that would be foolish."
"Indeed, papa," said he, "I _must_ do it." "Nay," answered the father,
"if you have such a violent inclination, I won't baulk it." Upon
which, he delivered the watch into the hands of the youngster, who
instantly dashed it on the floor.
At another time, while Lord Holland was secretary of state, having
just finished a long dispatch which he was going to send, Mr.
Charles, who stood near him, with his hand on the inkstand, said,
"Papa, I have a good mind to throw this ink over the paper." "Do, my
dear," said the secretary, "if it will give you any pleasure." The
young gentleman immediately threw on the ink, and his father sat down
very composedly to write the dispatch over again.
Such a course of education, we should anticipate, would work the moral
ruin of a child. Its baleful influence was seen in after years, in
gambling, horse-racing, drinking, and kindred vices, carried to a
fearful extent on the part of this son, whose training was so
inauspiciously begun and persevered in.
[Illustration: Fox.]
But, despite of these most degrading and ruinous practices, Fox proved
to be one of the most accomplished and effective orators, and perhaps
we may add, statesman of his times. He was the rival of Pitt; and,
though not so finished in his elocution, he not unfrequently equalled
him in the effect produced.
By what means he attained to such eminence, it scarcely appears; for
the younger part of his life seems to have been so exclusively devoted
to his pleasures, as scarcely to have time left for the cultivation of
his intellect. His genius, however, was brilliant; and from his
earliest years he was in the society of men distinguished for their
cultivated intellect, and the eminent part they took in the
government of the country. It is related of Fox, that he would not
unfrequently spend the entire night at his favorite amusement,
gambling, and thence proceed to the House of Commons, when he would
electrify the whole assembly with some cogent and brilliant speech.
Fox was a firm, steadfast friend to the Americans and their
independence. At the time the measures which led to the American war
had come to a crisis, a formidable party existed in England, opposed
to the unjust and illiberal policy of the government. To this party,
Fox united himself; and, from his conspicuous talents, soon acquired
the authority of a leader. In 1773, he opposed the Boston port bill,
and apologized for the conduct of the colonies. In his speech on that
occasion, he arraigned the measures of the ministers in bold and
energetic language, and explained the principles of the constitution
with masculine eloquence. The session of 1775, opened with a speech
from the king, declaring the necessity of _coercion_. On this
occasion, Fox poured forth a torrent of his powerful eloquence. In
that plain, forcible language, which formed one of the many
excellencies of his speeches, he showed what ought to have been done,
what ministers had promised to do, and what they had not done. He
affirmed that Lord Chatham, the king of Prussia--nay, even Alexander
the Great--never gained more in one campaign than Lord North had lost.
When the news of the disastrous defeat of Burgoyne reached England, Fox
loudly insisted upon an inquiry into the causes of his failure. And in
like manner, when the fate of Cornwallis' army at Yorktown was made
known, the oppositionists were loud in their denunciations of the
proceedings of ministers in regard to the war. Mr. Fox designed to make
a motion for an investigation into the conduct of Lord Sandwich, who was
at the head of the admiralty. But he was, for a time, too much
indisposed to make the attempt. It was on this occasion, that Burke is
reported to have said, "that if Fox died, it would be no bad use of his
skin, if, like John Ziska's, it should be converted into a drum, and
used for the purpose of sounding an alarm to the people of England."
The death of Mr. Fox occurred 13th of August, 1806.
Walpole thus compares the two great orators of England: "Mr. Fox, as a
speaker, might be compared to the rough, but masterly specimen of the
sculptor's art; Mr. Pitt, to the exquisitely finished statue. The former
would need a polish to render him perfect; the latter possessed, in a
transcendent degree, every requisite of an accomplished orator. The
force of Mr. Fox's reasoning flashed like lightning upon the mind of the
hearer: the thunder of Mr. Pitt's eloquence gave irresistible effect to
his powerful and convincing arguments."
The sympathy and support of such men as Fox, during our Revolutionary
struggle, served to sustain and animate our patriotic fathers. They
felt that while they were in the field, engaged in defeating the
armies of England, they had friends in the House of Commons, who were
making every possible effort to defeat the impolitic and oppressive
measures of the king and his ministers.
JOHN STUART.
John Stuart, Marquis of Bute, was born in 1715. In the ninth year of
his age, he succeeded his father as Marquis of Bute. On the accession
of George the Third, the highest dignities in the state were supposed
to be within the grasp of Lord Bute; but, however he might have swayed
the king's mind in private, he took no public part in the direction of
public affairs until 1761, when he accepted the secretaryship resigned
in that year by Lord Holderness. At length, he became prime minister;
and, immediately on coming into power, determined, if possible, to
effect a peace, which had for some time been negotiating. He
accomplished his object, but his success rendered him exceedingly
unpopular. He was accused, by some weak-minded persons, of having been
bribed by the enemies of his country; and it was added, that the
princess dowager had shared with him in the price at which peace had
been purchased by the French government.
He quitted office in April, 1763, but continued to exert a powerful
influence over the mind of the king, especially in relation to
America. Several measures, the object of which was to humble the
colonies, and continue them in subjection to the crown, are said to
have been suggested by this nobleman. He died in 1792.
GEORGE GRENVILLE.
[Illustration: Grenville.]
George Grenville was born 1712. In 1741, he was returned to parliament
for the town of Buckingham, for which place he served during the
remainder of his life. He held several important offices. In April,
1763, he became first lord of the treasury and chancellor of the
exchequer. He resigned his office in July, 1765, and died in November,
1770. During his premiership, the project of imposing internal taxes
in America was carried into effect. The project was first named to
him by the king, and urged upon him. At first, the minister was
opposed to the idea, but after having adopted it as a measure of his
administration, which he was compelled to do by royal authority, he
urged and supported it by all the means in his power.
DUKE OF GRAFTON.
Henry Augustus Fitzroy, Duke of Grafton, was born 1735. He was
educated at Cambridge, where he was notoriously profligate. In July,
1766, the Rockingham administration was dissolved, and the Duke of
Grafton was made first lord commissioner of the treasury, which office
he held until January, 1770. He has received an unenviable notoriety
from the strictures of Junius. His administration was composed of men
of different political principles and parties. Junius, in a letter
addressed to the duke, thus narrates, and severely animadverts upon,
the circumstances of his grace's appointment to the premiership: "The
spirit of the favorite (Lord Bute) had some apparent influence upon
every administration; and every set of ministers preserved an
appearance of duration as long as they submitted to that influence;
but there were certain services to be performed for the favorite's
security, or to gratify his resentments, which your predecessors in
office had the wisdom, or the virtue, not to undertake. A submissive
administration was, at last, gradually collected from the deserters of
all parties, interests, and connexions; and nothing remained but to
find a leader for these gallant, well-disciplined troops. Stand forth,
my lord, for thou art the man! Lord Bute found no resource of
dependence or security in the proud, imposing superiority of Lord
Chatham's abilities; the shrewd, inflexible judgment of Mr. Grenville;
nor in the mild, but determined integrity of Lord Rockingham. His
views and situation required a creature void of all these properties;
and he was forced to go through all his division, resolution,
composition, and refinement of political chemistry, before he happily
arrived at the _caput mortuum_ of vitriol in your grace. Flat and
insipid in your retired state, but brought into action, you become
vitriol again. Such are the extremes of alternate indolence or fury,
which have governed your whole administration!"
FREDERICK NORTH, EARL OF GUILFORD.
This nobleman, better known as Lord North, was the minister of George
III., under whose administration England lost her American colonies.
He succeeded Charles Townshend, as chancellor of the exchequer; and,
in 1770, the Duke of Grafton, as first lord of the treasury, and
continued in that high, but laborious office, till the conclusion of
the war. As a public character, Lord North was a flowing and
persuasive orator, well skilled in argumentation, and master of great
presence and coolness of mind; and, in private life, he was very
amiable, cheerful, and jocose in conversation, the friend of learned
men, and correct in conduct. In his policy towards America, he was
stern and uncompromising. On first coming into power, he was inclined
to be conciliatory; but soon he adopted restrictive and oppressive
measures, more so than his predecessors, and, at length, declared that
he would omit no means but that he would bring America in humility at
his feet. The faithful warnings of Pitt, Burke, Fox, and others, had
no restraining influence, and the consequence was, that America was
lost to the British crown. Lord North, in the latter years of his
life, was afflicted with blindness. He died July, 1792, aged sixty.
BARRASTRE TARLETON.
Colonel Tarleton was born in Liverpool, on the 21st of August, 1754, and
at first commenced studying law, but, on the breaking out of war in
America, he entered the army, and, having arrived in that country, he
was permitted to raise a body of troops called the "British Legion,"
which he commanded in several successful excursions against the enemy.
Such was the daring intrepidity, energy, and skill, with which he
conducted his corps, that he may be said to have greatly accelerated, if
not secured, some of the most important victories under Lord Cornwallis.
On his return to England, he was made a colonel, and became so popular
that, in 1790, he was returned, free of expense, as a member for
Liverpool, which he represented in three subsequent parliaments.
In 1818, previously to which he had been raised to the rank of
general, he was created a baronet, and, on the coronation of George
the Fourth, was made a K. C. B. He was one of the bravest officers of
his time, and is described as having been to the British, in the
American war, what Arnold, in his early career, was to the Americans.
SIR PETER PARKER.
Sir Peter Parker, son of Rear-admiral Christopher Parker, was born in
1723, and entered the navy under the auspices of his father. Having
served with great reputation on several occasions, in 1775 he hoisted
his broad pendant on board the Bristol, of fifty guns, in which he
proceeded, with a squadron under his command, to the American station.
On account of bad weather and other impediments, he did not reach Cape
Fear until May, 1776. In the following month, he made an unsuccessful
attack on Charleston, in South Carolina. Shortly afterwards, he joined
Lord Howe, the commander-in-chief, at New York, whence he was
dispatched, with the Asia, Renown, and Preston, to distract the
attention of the enemy, while the army attacked the lines on Long
Island. Towards the close of the same year, he proceeded, in command
of a small squadron, to make an attempt on Rhode Island, of which he
obtained possession without loss. He was now advanced to the rank of
rear-admiral of the blue; and, a few months after, appointed to the
chief command on the Jamaica station, where he served with signal
success until 1782, in which year he returned with a convoy to
England. Before his death, which occurred in 1811, he became admiral
of the blue and admiral of the white.
SIR WILLIAM MEADOWS.
Sir William Meadows was born in 1738. In 1775, he repaired with his
regiment to America, where he distinguished himself, particularly at
the battle of Brandywine, during which he was wounded.
In 1792, he served under Cornwallis in India. On returning to England,
he was appointed governor of the Isle of Wight, and, afterwards,
governor of Hull. He died at Bath, 1813.
As a military man, he was highly distinguished. He was invariably
cheerful, during an engagement; and his troops, by whom he was much
beloved, are said, on more than one occasion, to have mounted the
breach, laughing at their general's last joke. His hilarity scarcely
ever deserted him; one day, while on a reconnoitering party, he
observed a twenty-four-pound shot strike the ground, on his right, in
such a direction that, had he proceeded, it would, in all probability,
have destroyed him; he, therefore, stopped his horse, and, as the ball
dashed across the road in front of him, gracefully took off his hat,
and said: "I beg, sir, that you will continue your promenade; I never
take the precedence of any gentleman of your family."
GENERAL GAGE.
General Thomas Gage, second son of Viscount Gage, was born about the
year 1721, and entered the army at an early age. Having served with
considerable credit, he was commissioned as lieutenant-general; soon
after which, (April, 1774,) he was appointed to succeed Mr.
Hutchinson, as governor of Massachusetts Bay. In May, he sailed for
Boston with four regiments, where, contrary to his expectations, he
was received with great ceremony and outward respect.
About this time, serious troubles of the colonies with England began.
General Gage took strong and decided measures, and hastened, rather
than retarded, an open contest. By his order it was that the military
stores at Concord were destroyed, which led to the skirmish at
Lexington, and which opened the war.
On the 10th of October, 1775, he resigned his command to Sir William
Howe, and departed for England. At the time of his death, which took
place on the 2d of April, 1788, he was a general in the army. His
talents for command are said to have been respectable.
SIR GUY CARLTON.
[Illustration: Sir Guy Carlton.]
Guy Carlton, Lord Dorchester, was born in Ireland, in 1722. In 1748,
he became lieutenant-colonel. In 1758, he served at the siege of
Louisburg under Amherst, and the following year under Wolfe, at the
siege of Quebec. Ultimately he became governor of Quebec, and, during
his administration, defeated the American flotilla under Arnold. In
1790, having been created Baron Dorchester, he was appointed governor
of all the British possessions, except Newfoundland, in North America.
The close of his life was passed in retirement. He died in 1808. As a
soldier, Lord Dorchester appears to have deservedly obtained a high
reputation for courage and skill.
MARQUIS OF ROCKINGHAM.
Charles Watson Wentworth, Marquis of Rockingham, was born 1730. In 1763,
disgusted with the proceedings of Lord Bute, then the reigning favorite
at court, he resigned the situation of a lord of the bed-chamber, which
he had for some time before held, and also his lord-lieutenancy of
Yorkshire. Two years had scarcely elapsed, however, when the whole
system of government having undergone a change, he was appointed, in
July, 1765, first lord of the treasury, in the room of George Grenville.
He seems to have brought to his exalted station an anxious desire to
advance the prosperity of his country; and had his talents been equal to
his good intentions, his administration might have proved fortunate. But
the crisis in which he took office was important and even dangerous, and
he had to struggle against the intrigues of an opposition, powerful both
in numbers and talent. He soon became convinced of the impracticability
of remaining at the helm of affairs, and resigned the premiership on the
1st of August, 1766.
During the long administration of Lord North, the marquis was
considered, in the House of Lords, as the head of the aristocratic part
of the opposition; but his conduct was entirely free from that political
rancor which has too often disgraced the parliamentary behavior of the
greatest statesmen in England. At length, Lord North felt compelled to
succumb beneath the force and continued attacks of his powerful rival,
Fox; and George the Third offered the premiership to Lord Shelburne,
who, however, declared that, in his judgment, no one was so well fitted
to take the lead in administration as the Marquis of Rockingham.
Accordingly, in March, 1782, the marquis was again elevated to the
chief direction of affairs, having for his principal colleagues, the
Earl of Shelburne and Mr. Fox. The ministry thus formed, seemed likely
to be permanent; for it united much of the wealth and talent of the
country. The hopes of the nation were, however, doomed to be miserably
disappointed. On the 1st of July, the marquis was seized with a violent
spasmodic affection, and almost instantly expired. He had long
anticipated his approaching death, and is said to have expressed but one
motive for wishing a continuance of life, which was, that he might see
his country extricated from her troubles.
EDMUND BURKE.
[Illustration: Edmund Burke.]
The history of this distinguished statesman and eloquent orator is
exceedingly interesting, but it belongs to these pages to notice him
only as he was a friend to American rights, and often lifted up his
voice in parliament in defence of them. He was born in Dublin, 1730.
His father was a respectable attorney. Burke received his education
at Trinity college; on the completion of which, he studied law, but
devoted himself chiefly to literature. He conducted Dodley's
celebrated Annual Register for many years. In 1765, he entered into
public life, being made private secretary to the Marquis of Rockingham
at the time that nobleman was called to the head of the treasury. Soon
after, he was elected to parliament. In 1766, he took a prominent part
in a debate relative to the affairs of America, and often, afterwards,
raised his voice in opposition to the arbitrary measures of the
government. For a time, the affairs of America are said to have
engrossed almost all his attention.
During one of the debates on American affairs, a member from Hull, by
the name of Hartley, after having driven four-fifths of a very full
house from the benches, by an unusually dull speech, at length requested
that the riot act might be read, for the purpose of elucidating one of
his propositions. Burke, who was impatient to address the house himself,
immediately started up, and exclaimed: "The riot act! My dearest friend,
why, in the name of every thing sacred, have the riot act read? The mob,
you see, is already dispersed!" Peals of laughter followed the utterance
of this comic appeal, which Lord North frequently declared to be one of
the happiest instances of wit he ever heard.[53]
Burke died in 1797. Unlike many of the statesmen of his day, "his
character, in private life, was almost unimpeachable." As a public
speaker, his manner was bold and forcible; his delivery, vehement and
unembarrassed; but, though easy, he was inelegant. His head
continually oscillated, and his gesticulations were frequently
violent. To the last hour of his life, his pronunciation was
Hibernian. Although a great orator, he was not a skillful debater. Few
men ever possessed greater strength of imagination, or a more
admirable choice of words. His mind was richly stored, and he had the
most perfect mastery over its treasures. Johnson said he was not only
the first man in the House of Commons, but the first man every where;
and, on being asked if he did not think Burke resembled Cicero,
replied, "No, sir; Cicero resembled Burke."
THADDEUS KOSCIUSKO.