The Reign of George III. (Continued.) page 3

Simultaneously, other parties were working with the same object. Coutts, the banker, again wrote to lady Chatham, saying, " Every rank looks up to lord Chatham with the only gleam of hope which remains; nor do I meet with any one who does not lament and wonder that his majesty has not yet publicly desired the only help that can have a chance to extricate the country." He then mentioned that lord Rochford was of the same opinion; looked upon lord Chatham as the only man who could save the country, and, though asking nothing for himself, was ready to take any part in the executive portion of his lordship's plan for the good of his country. Soon after, Coutts wrote again, repeating lord Rochford's anxious desire to see Chatham at the head of an effective administration, and his readiness to co-operate in any way under so illustrious a statesman. At the same time, the Rockingham party waived all claim on behalf of their own head; each joined in the solicitation that Chatham would come forward as the saviour of the state. For this purpose, they dispatched his friend lord Granby to him to communicate their wishes. The king watched these negotiations with his old feeling of evasion, writing to lord North, " I am extremely indifferent whether lord Granby goes, or does not go, with the abject message of the Rockingham party to Hayes: I will certainly send none to that place."

Chatham himself undoubtedly listened to the united solicitations of these different parties. He was roused by the conduct of France, like the rest of the nation. He withdrew his opposition to his son (lord Pitt) being in the army, and his son accordingly re-entered it, and sailed for Gibraltar, as aide-de-camp to the governor. He proposed, if he took the administration, to send for prince Frederick of Brunswick - who, under his former ministry, had commanded with such success in Germany - and put him at the head of the army. But no call came from the obstinate George.

In vain did the most zealous and most trusted of the king's friends represent the necessity of sending for the man who before carried victory into America, and lowered the pride of France. Lord Barrington, secretary at war, and one of those who, whilst he was devoted to the king's party, had always given the soundest advice on the mode of conducting the conflict, says: - " I represented to the king that he had not one general in whom his majesty, the nation, or the army could place confidence, in case of the invasion of Great Britain or Ireland, and the necessity there was of bringing prince Ferdinand hither. In a subsequent audience I thought it my duty to represent to his majesty the general dismay which prevailed amongst all ranks and conditions, arising, as I apprehended, from an opinion that the administration was not equal to the times - an opinion so universal that it prevailed amongst those who were most dependent on and attached to ministers, and even amongst ministers themselves."

It has been thought that a short time must have compelled the king to call for Chatham, and great has been the speculation amongst politicians and historians whether the earl would have been able to settle the American difficulty and retain the states as our colonies. Macaulay assumes the - to us - very palpable ground, that he would have failed in the attempt; that he himself had always declared that America could not be conquered; and therefore, it is not likely that he could conquer America and France combined. It appears to us, however, that he would not have attempted to conquer America, but to have negotiated with her, and that such negotiations must have proved abortive, so far as retention of the union was concerned. We think no one can have studied the character and temper of the Americans, especially of the leading states - those of New England and Virginia - from the outbreak of the quarrel, without seeing that there was a firm resolve there, never to return to the English rule. That Chatham, had he been in his full vigour, could and would have beaten both the Americans and the French, had he undertaken it, we have no doubt whatever. Under the influence of his great mind a totally new spirit would have sprung up in the national heart; heroes worthy of victory would have started up as by instant creation, under the influence of his animating genius; other Wolfes would have achieved other triumphs; other admirals would have encountered and dispersed the French fleets. There would have been an end of those sloth-like, creeping, half-awake commanders and besotted measures which despised sound counsel and invited defeat. For nothing is clearer than that the success of the Americans arose from the unexampled imbecility of our statesmen, our generals, and our admirals, at that most disgraceful epoch. Before a Clive or a Wellington, the shoeless, and shirtless, and powder- less hordes of Americans would have been scattered as leaves by an autumn, wind. As it was, they found it impossible to cope with our sluggish snails of generals and torpedo admirals, and were compelled to call in the aid of the only European power which could ever cope with England. By the wretched imbecility of our officers and the arms of France, America became free. It was the will of Providence, and the usual powers and intellects of England were blunted and impoverished by Providence to that end. In the words of Wordsworth, a little varied, there was at that period - with a few grand exceptions -

Perpetual emptiness, unceasing change,
No master spirit, no determined road;
But equally a want of deeds and men.

Lord Barrington truly told the king that we had no single general in whom nation or army could place confidence. Lord Chatham himself was no longer what he had been. He was old, diseased, and incapable of the exertion of mind and body which the exigency demanded. The time was come when Providence had fresh labours for us. We had planted and peopled America. It could now go alone; and He was calling us to create fresh empires at the antipodes, doomed within half a century to be worth a dozen Americas to us; a most marvellous apparition of an Australasian world, then lying unborn to civilisation, to commerce, and to art.

The days of Chatham were far nearer their close than was suspected. Whilst the country was calling him to the head of affairs, God was calling him away. One more sudden blaze of his high intellect, and he was gone. Whilst the subject of America continued to be discussed in both houses with much acrimony and little result, the duke of Richmond, seeing that Chatham did not come forward, took a decided step. He gave notice, on the 7th of April, of an address to the king, entreating him to withdraw both his fleets and armies from the United States, and make peace with them on such terms as should secure their goodwill. This was giving up the contest with a most impolitic precipitancy, which would have left England at the mercy of American conceit, and of that selfish chicane which had distinguished congress and its Franklins and Silas Deanes from the first, combined with that braggart bully ism, which has equally distinguished North America down to the days of general Harney. The most complete advantage would have been taken of this innocent candour; and no conclusion would have been possible but one of unmitigated shame to us The marquis of Rockingham coincided in this absurd idea; at the same time that both these extraordinary diplomatists regarded the severance of the United States from us as the ruin of our trade.

Chatham, equally of that opinion, and equally blind to the necessity of admitting the independence of the colonies, was roused effectually by this notice. Richmond had written to him, inclosing a draught of his intended motion, and saying, " As I believe your lordship, and those I have the honour to act with, are agreed as to the impracticability of compelling America to subjection by war, I think the difference could only be as to the more or less sanguine expectations we might form of what could be obtained by their consent. The circumstances are much changed of late, and may possibly now make our degrees of hope more similar." He added, that if this should meet his lordship's approbation, and still more so, if his health should enable him, he hoped to have the honour of his support.

The very next day, Chatham replied through the hand of his son, lord Pitt, that it was " an unspeakable concern to him to find himself so widely at variance with the duke of Richmond, as that between the sovereignty and the allegiance of America;" that, though the duke despaired of arriving at a successful issue, he himself was inclined to attempt it before this bad grew worse; and that he meant to be in town on the morrow. And there, indeed, he was, though more like a ghost than a living man. He was supported into the house by his son William, and his son-in-law, lord Mahon, wrapped in flannel, pale and emaciated. His large wig seemed to bury his worn, shrunken face, except the still piercing eye, and the aquiline nose. When the duke of Richmond had made his motion, and lord Weymouth, one of the secretaries of state, had replied to it, Chatham arose. Lord Camden says, that in speaking, " he was not like himself: his speech faltered, his sentences were broken, and his mind not master of itself. His words were shreds of unconnected eloquence; and flashes of the same fire, which he, Prometheus-like, had stolen from heaven, were then returning to the place whence they were taken."

In Seward's " Anecdotes of Distinguished Persons " we have a very striking picture of his last appearance in parliament. He took one hand from his crutch, raised it, casting his eyes towards heaven, and said. – "I thank God that I have been enabled to come here this day to perform my duty, and to speak on a subject which has so deeply impressed my mind. I am old and infirm: I have one foot, more than one foot, in the grave; I am risen from my bed to stand up in the cause of my country - perhaps never again to speak in this house."

The impressive spectacle of that great man, who had so often shaken that house with the thunders of his eloquence, and made the world tremble at the very sound of his name, thus hovering on the verge of life, and these solemn words, hushed the house into a silence like that of the tomb.. All was deep attention, and even in bosoms antagonistic in principle, were profound interest and respect. His words, feeble and faltering at first, grew, as he warmed with his subject, into much of the power and harmony of former days, and battling with his feebleness of frame he put forth, in one last great effort, the power of his spirit.

" My lords," he said, " I rejoice that the grave has not 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, whilst I have sense and memory, I will never consent to deprive the royal offspring of the house of Brunswick, the heirs of - " here he faltered for some moments, whilst striving to recall the name - " of the princess Sophia, of their fairest inheritance. My lords, his majesty succeeded to an empire as great in extent as its reputation was unsullied. Shall we tarnish the lustre of that empire by an ignominious surrender of its rights and fairest possessions? Shall this great kingdom, which has survived whole and entire the Danish depredations, the Scottish inroads, and the Norman conquest - that has stood the threatened invasion of the Spanish armada, now fall prostrate before the house of Bourbon?

" Surely, my lords, this nation is no longer what it was! Shall a people that fifteen years ago were the terror of the world now stoop so low as to tell this ancient, inveterate enemy – 'Take all we have, only give us peace?' It is impossible! I wage war with no man or set of men; I wish for none of their employments; nor would I co-operate with men who persist in unretracted error - who, instead of acting on a firm, decisive line of conduct, halt between two opinions, where there is no middle path. In God's name, if it is absolutely necessary to declare either for peace or war, and the former cannot be preserved with honour, why is not the latter commenced without hesitation? I am not, I confess, well informed of the resources of this kingdom; but I trust it has still sufficient to maintain its just rights, though I know them not. But, my lords, any state is better than despair. Let us, at least, make one effort, and if we must fall, let us fall like men! "

As lord Chatham sate down, lord Temple, his brother-in- law, said to him, "You forgot to mention what we talked of. Shall I get up?" To which he replied, "No, no; I will do it by-and-by."

The duke of Richmond rose to reply. " My lords," he said, " there is not a person present who more sincerely wishes than I do that America should remain dependent on this country. But, as I am convinced that it is now totally impracticable, I am anxious to retain the Americans as allies, because, if they are not on terms of friendship with us, they must necessarily throw themselves into the arms of France. If we go to war with France on account of the late treaty, the colonies will look upon themselves as bound in honour to assist her. And what prospect of success have we? Not one of your lordships has a more grateful memory of the services performed for his country by the noble earl. He raised its glory, reputation, and success to a pitch never before experienced by any other nation. The name of Chatham will ever be dear to Englishmen; but while I grant this, I am convinced that the name of Chatham is not able to perform impossibilities, or to restore the country to the state it was in when he, in the vigour of his life, was called into office. Then, our finances were in the most flourishing condition, the result of the eminent abilities of that great man and able financier, Mr. Pelham; then, our navy was in an admirable condition, under the direction and care of a most able officer, lord Anson; then, the influence of the crown had not reached its present alarming and dangerous height. We had, for the greater part of that war, only France to contend with; and, when Spain commenced hostilities, France was reduced to the lowest ebb, having already lost her navy and the best of her colonies; then, America fought for us; but now, instead of Great Britain and America against France and Spain, France, Spain, and America would be united against Great Britain. Lord Chatham himself had failed to point out the means for sustaining so unequal a contest - had confessed he knew them not."