George Chatham

“ To those indeed who think that a statesman is only another name for a superior clerk, the character of Chatham will be either incomprehensible, or merely seem that of an accomplished rhetorician. Nor are the reasons of this far to seek. His want of early education had deprived him, like Shelburne, of all opportunity of acquiring knowledge of the details of business, nor had he attempted to supply the defects of his own early training, either by himself acquiring a store of positive knowledge, or by gaining associates who could do for him what Price and Dunning were able to do for Shelburne. ”

“ I am persuaded, when Lord Chatham has either time or health to return to any business, his intuition and knowledge of human nature will make it easy for him to distinguish between the secret and the real views of any of the parties concerned, if it be necessary ”

“ During the debate on the bill of indemnity on 10 Dec. 1766, Richmond called Chatham ‘an insolent minister,’ and when called to order replied that he ‘was sensible truth was not to be spoken at all times and in all places’ (ib. ii. 410; see also Grenville Papers, iii. 396–7) . Both lords were required to promise that the matter should go no further (Journals of the House of Lords, xxxi. 448) . After this quarrel Chatham ‘during the whole of the remainder of his administration appeared no more in the House of Lords’ (Walpole, Memoirs of the Reign of George III, ii. 411) . ”

“ North had begun to disapprove of the colonial policy forced upon him by the king. War with France, declared in May 1778, was imminent. He felt that he could not conciliate the colonies and that conciliation was necessary, and on 31 Jan. he begged the king to accept his resignation and send for Chatham. He repeated his request in March. Men of every rank and political section looked on Chatham as the only hope of the country, and this was made known to George from various sides. He was immovable—not, as it would seem, so much from motives of public policy as from private feelings. ”

“ In this condition of affairs Chatham hurried up to London. "I was in town on Wednesday last," he wrote to Calcraft, "saw Lord Rockingham, and learnt nothing more than I knew before; namely, that the Marquis is an honest and honourable man, but that 'moderation, moderation!' is the burden of the song among the body. For myself, I am resolved to be in earnest for the public, and shall be a scarecrow of violence to the gentle warblers of the grove, the moderate Whigs and temperate statesmen." ”

“ There little Charles passed some of the happiest years of his childhood, and received the most durable of his early impressions.
Chatham, on the river Medway, derives its name from the Saxon word Ceteham or Cættham, meaning “village of cottages.” It is anything but a “village” now, having since that remote age developed into a river port and a populous fortified town. Remains of Roman villas have been found in the neighbourhood, thus testifying to its antiquity. Chatham is one of the principal royal shipbuilding establishments in the kingdom. ”

“ Whether Chatham, had he succeeded to power, would have been able to preserve the connection between England and her Colonies is a question on which the most opposite opinions have been given. There is a natural tendency to argue from the actual result of the war, and to suppose that because England failed in the struggle, the struggle itself could not possibly have had any other result. ”

“ In May, Lord Chatham again addressed the "peers," and called their attention to the necessity of changing the proceedings of government. Although bowed down by age and infirmity, and bearing a crutch in each hand, he delivered his sentiments, with all the ardour of youth, in these words: "I wish the removal of accumulated grievances, and the [65] repeal of every oppressive act which have been passed since the year 1763! I am experienced in spring hopes and vernal promises, but at last will come your equinoctial disappointment." ”

“ His life had been a proof that even in a free country great abilities are not necessary to govern it. Industry, perseverance, and intrigue, gave him that duration of power which shining talents and the favour of the Crown could not secure to Lord Granville, nor the first rank in eloquence and the most brilliant services to Lord Chatham. Adventitious cunning repaired Newcastle’s folly, rashness overset Lord Granville’s parts, and presumptuous impracticability Lord Chatham. ”

“ Lord Chatham made a fine oration, and, though often vexed by the Lords Sandwich and Denbigh, was, when Lord Mansfield was silent, as his fears now made him, far superior to all his other adversaries; they were babies to him. He said the Ministers had bungled themselves into such a situation that they could neither make war nor peace; that he should have arguments against them, of whichever they should make option; that he would insist on restitution and reparation, though he supposed they were then actually begging peace at Versailles. ”

“ If Lord Chatham agrees to support your Administration (or, if you like the expressions better, the "fundamentals of the present Administration") , with Lord North at the head of the Treasury, Lords Suffolk, Gower and Weymouth in great offices to their own inclination, Lord Sandwich in the Admiralty, Thurlow Chancellor, and Wedderburn as Chief Justice, I will not object to see that great man, when Lord Shelburne and Dunning, with Barré, are placed already in office; but I solemnly declare that nothing shall bring me to treat personally with Lord Chatham. ”

“ In the absence of the eldest son on foreign service, William Pitt was the chief mourner, while Lords Shelburne, Camden, and six other peers followed as assistant mourners.
Chatham was pre-eminently the most striking figure on the English political stage during the eighteenth century. By force of his own abilities and his extraordinary popularity he became the foremost man in the nation, notwithstanding the prejudice entertained against him by George II. 'In him,' says Mr. Lecky, 'the people for the first time felt their power. ”

“ Barre to move Lord Chatham's public funeral and the provision for his family. He certainly had from nature great ambition, but his pride and his principle set him so far above it, that it may be safely affirmed, that no man living or dead, knew the object of it. ”

“ Here he indulged in his favourite pursuit of landscape-gardening, sometimes even 'planting by torchlight, as his peremptory and impatient temper could brook no delay' (Walpole Memoirs of the Reign of George III, iii. 30) . From 1759 to 1761 Chatham lived in the house (now numbered 10) in St. James's Square which was occupied by Mr. Gladstone in the parliamentary session of 1890. On resigning office in October 1761 Chatham gave up his town house in St. James's Square, and resolved to live entirely at Hayes. Sir William Pynsent, an eccentric Somersetshire baronet, who died on 12 Jan. ”

“ Under a jovial style of good humour, he was tyrannic in Jamaica his native country, and under an appearance of prodigality, interested. On the other side, the excesses of his factious behaviour were founded neither on principle nor on rancour. Vain glory seemed to be the real motive of all his actions.100157 His death was one of the heaviest blows Lord Chatham could receive, cutting off all his influence in the City; and it was another cause of the Opposition’s ensuing humiliation, the turbulence of Beckford, his imposing noise, and his great wealth, concurring to his authority. ”

“ The opinions of Chatham on commercial questions were not in advance of his age, nor was Shelburne at this period altogether prepared to abandon the Navigation Acts. There were however many persons in America besides the professed Loyalists who began to think peace desirable, even at the cost of making some sacrifices ”

“ So bitter were his feelings, that he and his friends rejoiced when Dowdeswell and Burke, "those positive gentlemen," were defeated in an attempt to vindicate the rights of juries, because they adopted a method of procedure of which he did not approve; they were, his friend Calcraft wrote to him, "completely disgraced," and Chatham styled their bill "a compound of connexion, tyranny and absurdity". [83] While the opposition was in this distracted state the ministerial party was united. ”

“ As for the course of public affairs, what regards Parliament I conceive may, with common management, be carried through without difficulty. As for the Court, Lord Chatham knows my opinion, as it has been unvaried since I first waited upon him at Northend. As to foreign affairs, there are many accounts which certainly do not flatter the almost universal wish of peace; but if there should any certainty come of any such great event as a war, I shall presume to acquaint your Ladyship of it, without troubling you with too many particulars. ”

“ He urged that England should refuse to bow before the house of Bourbon; "if we fall let us fall like men". Richmond answered him by dwelling on the expediency of acknowledging American independence; otherwise, said he, "instead of Great Britain and America against France and Spain, as in the last war, it will now be France, Spain, and America against Great Britain". Chatham rose to reply and fell back in a fit. ”

“ Lord Stanhope and Macaulay described it very beautifully more than fifty years ago. Mr. Frederic Harrison, Dr. Holland Rose, and Sir George Trevelyan have in recent works again refreshed our memories. It is one of the most touching passages in Sir George's latest volume, George the Third and Charles Fox. For ourselves at this moment a few plain words must suffice.
The news from America grows worse and worse. There is a growing conviction in the country, and among Ministers themselves, that Lord Chatham must be called in; that he and he alone is equal to the crisis. ”

“ Undoubtedly, as Forster remarks, “he felt crushed and chilled by the change from the life at Chatham, breezy and full of colour, to the little back garret in Bayham Street,” and, looking upon the dingy brick tenement to-day, it is not difficult to realize this fact; for, although the house itself could not have been less attractive than his previous home on “the Brook” at Chatham, the surroundings did not offer advantages in the shape of country walks and riverside scenery such as the immediate neighbourhood of Chatham afforded. ”

“ Still, as there were many Americans besides the loyalists who would have welcomed conciliation, and as the proposed French alliance was unpopular, it is just possible that had Chatham himself been prime minister some way might have been found which, while securing to America virtual independence such as England's self-governing colonies now enjoy, might have prevented the severance of the bond. On the other hand, the Rockingham party held that we should prevent the alliance between France and America by acknowledging American independence. ”

“ The evils of a divided administration of the Colonies had attracted the attention of Chatham. His first act on acceding to power was to determine once and for all to put an end to it. It was possible either, as Rockingham had intended, to make a third Secretaryship of State, or to reduce the Board of Trade to a mere "Board of Report upon reference to it for advice or information on the part of the Secretary of State." ”

“ They did return, and gave the cause for Lord Chatham, not without censure from the public on the two Lords; the one, as men thought, buying his indemnity by the sacrifice of another man’s property; the other waiving justice due to the public to purchase the decision of a suit in his own favour: yet, as the fact happened so late as the 6th of May, after the Duke of Richmond had allowed to me that the pursuit against Lord Mansfield was dropped, servility, to which, as has been seen, he was enough prone, might have no share in this instance. ”

“ Before retiring, Lord Chatham said, "Your majesty must excuse me if I say, the liberty of the subject is the surest protection to the monarch, and if the prince protects the guilty, instead of punishing them, time will convince him, that he has judged erroneously, and acted imprudently."
The earl retired; but "his labouring breast knew not peace," and he resolved, for the last time, to see the king in private. An interview was requested, and as readily granted. "Well, well," said the king, [57] "I hope no bad news?" "No bad news, your majesty ”

“ It is doubtful, however, whether the Ministry of 1766 could have had any other termination than failure, even had Chatham not succumbed to illness, for George III., far from resembling the Patriot King, had apparently studied the precedents of royalty in the Stuart period, but without either learning wisdom or taking warning from their example. ”

“ Fox and Lord Holland established universal corruption and revenge. Grenville exercised rigour and economy. With Lord Rockingham entered redress and relaxation. Lord Chatham’s second Administration was an interregnum of inexplicable confusion. The Duke of Grafton did as little, without being out of his senses. The people almost seized the reins next, and the Ministers, to save themselves, were content to secure the doors of the Cabinet and of the House of Commons from being stormed, while both the King and the Parliament were vilified and insulted. ”

“ An Opposition so distracted and disunited, called for recruits—at least, for something that might sound creditable in the ears of the public, and keep up a spirit. Calcraft, who had the best head for intrigue in the whole party, contrived a reconciliation between Lord Temple and Lord Chatham, as a prelude to the re-appearance of the latter ”