Previously to lord Wellesley's depar ture, orders were also issued by his lordship for the distribution of the army at its permanent stations, in different parts of the country, for the reduction of all extra expenses, and for every arrangement necessary to the final and entire consolidation of our alliances in every quarter of India; not an enemy had appeared in the Deccan for many months, and the company's paper, which, on lord Wellesley's arrival, bore a discount of fifteen per cent. was nearly at

par.

During the course of the administration of the marquis Wellesley, the general state of public credit in India was improved in a proportion of more than twelve per cent. at each of the three presidencies; while the resources of India not only kept pace with the growing demands upon them, and she not only paid her own expenses, but ae

tually contributed, (exclusive of the increase of commerce and duties,) upwards of 10,000,000 sterling, in aid of the mother country: the various sources of commerce also were materially extended and improved, the defective part of our frontier considerably strengthened, our political relations so defined and consolidated, as to preclude all probability of future war with any of the native states, and the permanent revenues of India raised from 7,000,000 to upwards of 15,000,000 sterling. The general condition of our power and resources was established on a firm basis, which bade defiance to the hostile projects of all our enemies, and which, under a firm system of government, equally conduced to the af fluence of the parent country, and to the uninterrupted and progressive prosperity of our Indian empire

HE English parliament met, after repeated prorogations, on the 21st of January, but the discussions of 1806. the session were chiefly devoted to the internal situation of the kingdom, the consideration of foreign politics having been postponed in consequence of the severe and fatal indisposition of Mr. Pitt. That celebrated statesman had left Bath on the 8th of January, and on his arrival at Putney Heath, he was advised to seclude himself entirely from business. The experiment was unsuccessful; he was seized with symptoms of typhus fever, his pulse rose to 130, he became incapable of rational and coherent conversation, and early on the 23rd of January, he expired.

On the 27th of January, Mr. H. Lascelles moved in the house of commons that an humble address be presented to his majesty, that "he will be graciously pleased to give directions that the remains of the right honorable William Pitt be interred at the public expense, and that a monument be erected in the collegiate church of St. Peter, Westminster, to the memory of that excellent statesman, with an inscription expressive of the public sense of so great and irreparable a loss." The chief arguments for the motion, which was passed

VOL. I.

were

by a large majority, were the splendid talents, and important public services, of the eminent character to whom it related.. The objections of the opposition founded on the plea, that it was not customary to confer public honors unless where merit was conjoined with success, and that in the only instance where such honors had been conferred on a statesman, (that of lord Chatham,) the success was not less indisputable than the merit. Mr. Windham, in a speech replete with his usual. corruscations of wit, and vehemence of argument, dissented from the motion, al-leging that the prolongation of the war and its consequent pressure on the English people, was to be attributed exclusively to the unskilfulness and pertinacity of the pilot who had assumed the direction of the helm of state. Mr. Fox contrasted the successful issue of lord Chatham's measures, with the disappointment and disgrace attaching to the administration of his son, and was answered by lord Castlereagh and Mr. Wilberforce, who attributed the stability of the throne and the salvation of the country to Mr. Pitt's prompt, continued, and energetic exertions against the aggressions of revolutionary violence, and the diffusion of republic principles.

The motion having passed by a great majority, Mr. Cartwright moved that a not exceeding £40,000 should be voted for the payment of Mr. Pitt's debts; a motion which passed without opposition. At a meeting of the common council of London, it was moved that a monument be erected in Guild-hall to perpetuate his memory, and after some debate the question was carried by a majority of ouly 77 to 71. Such were the trivial and parsimonious honors paid to the memory of a statesman, who with all his faults, was entitled to the gratitude and admiration of his country: and whose hereditary claims to respect and confidence were not enfeebled by his personal conduct and career. Mr. Pitt derived many advantages from his birth and education. He was the darling of his father and designed to support, not the Dame and honors, but the fame and power of his family. Tutored by the penetrating observations of his father, he was an adept in politics even in his nonage, and an accomplished statesman before the laws regarded him as a a man. He came into political life with every advantage. The people adored the representative of the great patriot who had breathed his last in the cause of freedom; and they fondly invested him with all the talents and virtues which they had associated with the name of Pitt. Even the court beheld him with comparative favor, and were willing to escape from the dreaded yoke of the aristocracy by the efforts of the people and the son of Chatham. The coalition of the aristocracy with the excluded tools of the court, whom they had hitherto branded as the basest of reptiles, overwhelmed all his adversaries with infamy, and when the dissolution of parliament had manifested the national sentiments, he set forward in his political career, with the agreeable as surance that the court and the people were equally his friends. At the moment of his accession to power, an unpopular war was just concluded. Men returned with eagerness to the pursuits of peace: agriculture, manufactures and commerce began to flourish anew, and to shoot forth blossoms more gay and fruitful than they had hitherto

borne. The taxes became more productive yet were less felt, and while the necessities of the government were relieved, the people were visibly enriched. When they compared this happy state of affairs with the grievances and discontents from which they had just escaped, they naturally referred their new blessings to the presiding spirit who now stood at the head of the government, and while they estimated his talents by their own prosperity, and compared his years with his abilities, they felt grateful to Providence that he had now vouchsafed to an afflicted nation " A heaven-born minister."

As his career proceeded, his good fortune kept pace with it. The flourishing state of the finances enabled him to resume the plans of Walpole. The scheme of the sinking fund was neither new nor complicated, but it had a splendid and most gracious appearance, and he had the virtue to excel his predecessor, by abstaining from the fund thus appropriated, even under his greatest difficulties.

Not

The war of the French revolution presented him with a new scene, but under circumstances less fortunate. On the one hand by persevering in the course which he had hitherto pursued, he had before him the reputation of prefering the real felicity of the nation to the glittering temptations of ambition; of guiding the vessel of the state with skill through shoals and quicksands, in which others were perishing; of rendering his country rich, powerful, and happy, while neighbouring kingdoms were ravaged by intestine convulsions, and ruined by external wars. that I conceive, on a candid and impartial retrospect, that this would have been the result of a pacific system of policy. I am only estimating the motives by which Mr. Pitt was influenced. On the other hand the career of ambition was thrown wide before him: the glory of subduing enemies, of ruling allies, of calling forth the valor of his countrymen, and shining in the eyes of posterity, with the accompanying lustre of conquests and victories. He chose the latter, and in a moment of ferment and anxiety the feelings of the people responded to his own.

*The atrocities of the French revolution, and the excesses of some infatuated persons, in our own country, who were fitter subjects for Bedlam than for Newgate, threw the people into a general panic. The great trembled for their honors, the wealthy for their riches, the numerous dependants of the court for their places and pensions. Every one seemed to feel the dagger of an ässassin at his back, and the hand of a robber in his pocket. Every one felt himself called upon with his life and fortune to assist the minister who was destined to encounter these terrible calamities. He was met with full support, and encouraged by acclamations. When a due lapse of time had dispelled the panic, and men venturing to look round, found no dagger at their back, but the dagger of new penal statutes; no hand in their pockets, but the hand of the tax-gatherer; they thanked heaven for their miraculous escape, and amazed at their own security prostrated them selves before the saviour of their country.

His oratory was the grand pillar of his reputation. His deep-toned voice, his warm and forcible utterance, his slow, dis tinct, measured enunciation, his elevated and ornamented style, his long, involved, and apparently premeditated sentences, all impressed his hearers with an opinion of his profoundness and dignity. Every period was delivered with pomp, every sentiment breathed an air of importance. His declamation was always suited to the feelings of his audience, and was always re ceived with bursts of applause. Their attention was still more forcibly attracted by the pointed sarcasm in which he delighted. His irony was keen, direct, and cruelly persevering. He never left his victim how ever contemptible till he had broken every limb on the wheel.

The impressions produced by the striking qualities of his oratory made its defects pass unperceived. The tritest idea acquired importance from the pomp with which it was announced, and amidst the miserable and abortive attempts at haranguing which usually disgrace the house of commons, half-sentencings, stammerings, provincialisms, tasteless repetitions, mut

terings, and whispers, the oratory of Pitt shone like a comet amidst the twinkling stars.

There was a sternness and obstinacy in his character which often subdued opposi tion, but always excited enemies. It exasperated while it overawed the court, and it converted his political contests into private animositses. To those at a distance it bore the appearance of firmness, but several transactions dictated by this spirit drew on his character the reproach of boyish obstinacy and pitiful revenge. While his firmness bound to him his parti sans, his harshness often disgusted them, and it was observed that no man had more political or fewer private friends. Yet like the majority of statesmen he could become sub> missive and pliant, when the interests of his ruling passion, ambition, were at stake. His original principles dropped from him when he entered the threshold of the court, and all men smiled at his attempt to pres serve an appearance of consistency by leaving to his dependants the task of opposing some popular questions, while he himself remained in the minority. He carried through his favourite measure, the union with Ireland, by promising emancipation to the catholics, and when the court refused to fulfil his promise, a sense of decency prompted him to resign. But the want of power was intolerable and he quickly gave up his pledge to recover his situation.

This last step caused his sun, long so brilliant, to set amidst impenetrable gloom. Untaught by his father's sorrows, he quarrelled with his most respectable friends, and threw himself defenceless into the arms of the court. Bereft of his independence, forsaken by the confidence of the nation, unsupported by the miserable dependants. by whom he was surrounded, and unfortunate in his dearest enterprises, the agita tion of a proud spirit overpowered the feebleness of an exhausted body and he fell at an early age, a victim to the pangs. of disappointed ambition.

His figure was tall, his bones large, his habit spare. His features were prominent and coarse, and his mouth which was

always open as he walked, expressed to those who met him, without knowing him, a conviction of his ideocy or imbecility. His gestures were ungraceful. Even when he harangued, he chiefly moved his head and his right arm, which he brandished with great violeuce, but in the same uniform direction. His private life was distinguished by few peculiarities, yet had considerable effect on his political reputation. Of a cool temperament he felt little inclination towards the female sex, and was considered wholly free from the vice of incontinence; a circumstance which procured him a high character for unspotted morality, and rendered him the idol of grave and religious persons throughout the nation. In his latter years, this In his latter years, this impression was somewhat diminished by the discovery that he was much addicted to the pleasures of the bottle, a dereliction which was attributed to the example of his friend Mr. Dundas. He entrusted the whole management of his private fortune to his servants, and their careless profusion involved him in necessities. After his reAfter his resignation, he expressed to some of his confidential friends his resolution of returning to his original profession, the bar, for the purpose of retrieving his ruined fortune; a design at once honorable to his courage, and to the disinterested honesty with which he had served his country

On the subject of his religious feelings at the point of death, the representations of his friends and servants are contradictory. An individual who knew him well, declares that his expiring moments were not those of confidence, while Mr. Canning declares that he did not neglect to prepare himself in silence for that higher destination, which is at once the incentive and reward of human virtue. "His talents, superior and splendid as they were, never, never made him forgetful of that eternal wisdom from which they emanated. The faith and fortitude of his last moments were affecting and exemplary." Lord Hawkesbury having declined the office of premier and ac, cepted the wardenship of the Cinque-ports, and every attempt to form an administration from the wreck of the late ministry

having proved unsuccessful, his majesty was at length induced to call in the assistance of lord Grenville. His majesty acquiesced in the proposal of that nobleman to consult Mr. Fox on the possibility of" forming an administration, comprehending all the leading men of the country." The plan of the new ministry was submitted to the king on the 31st of January. His majesty fully acquiesced in all the appointments so far as regarded the persous of the individuals, but objected to certain intimations of the conduct about to be pursued by the new ministry, and particularly to a paper containing their avowal of dissatisfaction with the system of army regulation, and with the superintendence of the duke of York. The conference was broken off abruptly; but, on the 1806. 3rd of February, lord Grenville was called to another audience, and the new administration was finally arranged. The cabinet was composed of the following members. Lord Erskine, lord high chancellor of England; earl Fitzwilliam, lord president of the council; viscount Sidmouth, lord privy-seal; lord Grenville, first lord of the treasury; lord Howick, first lord of the admiralty; earl of Moira, master-general of the ordnance; earl Spencer, Mr. Fox, and Mr. Windham, secretaries of state for the home, foreign, and war departments; lord Henry Petty, chancellor of the exchequer; and lord Ellenborough, lord chief justice. The office of lord of the treasury held by lord Grenville, was incompatible with that of auditor of the exchequer, which he held for life; and a bill was therefore passed to enable the possessor of the latter place to hold the former, provided he should name a trustee responsible to himself for the salary of auditor, and to the public for the execution of his office. This arrangement excited universal discontent among the great body of the people, who had looked forward to the accession of the new ministry as the æra of justice, retrenchment, and reform; but the appointment of lord Ellenborough to a seat in the cabinet, was a measure of still more doubtful policy. The functions of a counsellor