the scaffold or drove them from the throne; if a measure were now proposed that had been, in their day, proposed by them, would not the opponent of that measure have a perfect right to speak in the terms which he thought they merited, of the CHARACTER of Laud or Noy or Jefferies? Would he not have a right to speak in reprobation of that character? Would he not have a right to urge the nature of that character as an argument against the measure?It is almost to insult the understanding of the reader to put these questions to him; and yet has Sir Samuel Ro. milly been charged with illiberality, because he, and that, too, in the most gentle manner, denied, in answer to an argument built on the assertion, that Mr. Pitt was a GREAT STATESMAN!--Thus far as the charge preferred against Sir Samuel Romilly, which charge, if he spoke what he thought of the character of Mr. Pitt, as we have every reason to suppose he did, stands in need of nothing further to show how groundless, how futile it was. But, a much more important point remains, namely, whether his opinion was just. And here we ought first to observe, that his opinion was not dogmatically expressed; he did not give a flat and unqualified denial to the assertion of Mr. Pitt's being a great man or a great statesman; he did not, as he had a full right to do, oppose assertion to assertion, but made his denial conditional, and invited proof of the truth of the assertion of his opponents. "I do not," said he, "think him a great man, because, look "which way I will, I can discover, not a single instance, of his ever having in"vented or adopted what was beneficial to * the country or to mankind.”. To this what was said in answer? I stated, in my last, that Mr. WILBERFORCE, one of the constant supporters of Mr. Pitt in all his most important measures, and especially in his Bank Stoppage measures, did not accept of Sir Samuel Romilly's invitation; did not produce any such instance as that which the latter had called for; did not attempt to show, that, by any one measure of Mr. Pitt, the people, in any part of the King's dominions, had been benefitted; but contented himself with an eulogium, in loose and general terms, upon Mr. Pitt's character, and with the assertion, that his departed friend was to be judged of by those who knew him best.This was no answer to Sir Samuel Romilly. Alas! Mr. Wilberforce, this was no an swer to a precise, pointed, pinching proposition. It might do admirably in a funeral sermon, where the orator fears no contradiction; but, in an argument, where discussion is, if men have but spirit, still free, it cannot be expected to pass for much. Mr. CANNING, however, seems to have been of a different opinion; for after having taken twenty-four hours to ruminate upon the matter, he, if the report of his speech be correct, did no more than follow the example of Mr. Wilberforce; and, like him, to pass a loose and general eulogium on the character of Mr. Pitt, whom he asserted many times to be a great man, but, 'to decline the polite invitation to produce any one instance in proof of the truth of the assertion. Sir Samuel Romilly, as well he might (for upon such ground a man may stand till, doomesday), still called for the instance in which Mr. Pitt's measures had been beneficial to any part of His Majesty's subjects; and, in the course of his speech, which is highly extolled by those who had the advantage of hearing it, he is, in the news-papers, reported to have observed, that the Right Honourable Gentleman, especially after having taken twenty-four hours to collect and arrange his materials, would have better consulted the honour of his departed friend's memory, if, instead of a mere eulogium, in general terms, however eloquent, he had called to mind, and had stated any one instance, in which, by the measures of Mr. Pitt, any part of the people of this kingdom, or any part of mankind, had been benefitted. -This was ground from which it was impossible to move him. It was quite unnecessary for him to budge an inch from it. His opponents had first introduced the name and character of Mr. Pitt; they had put forward that character in support of their argument; they had built their precedent upon it; and with them it lay to prove that the foundation of their precedent, the foundation which they themselves had chosen, was solid and good. Sir Samuel Romilly said that that foundation was not good, and it was for them to prove that it was. It was not for him to prove that Mr. Pitt was not a great man, but for them to prove that he was; it was for him to deny the affirmative, without, unless he chose it, prov ing the negative.But, with us, out of doors (I mean out of the House," for some of us are in doors), who have more leisure, and are very deeply interested in the question, it may not be amiss to prove this negative, if, indeed, it can stand in need of any proof to a nation who are so severely feeling the effects of Mr. Pitt's administration. Sir Samuel Romilly merely said, that he did not think Mr. Pitt a great man, and called for proof of the contrary, which proof no one attempted to give; I say he was a very little man, and I will produce the proof of.First, then, what is meant by the words great man? Certainly, in this case, a great statesman. Men may be great in other ways, as a poet, a chymist, a political economist, a lawyer, or a divine, and in many other ways; but, in this case we are, and so was Sir Samuel Romilly, to view Mr. Pitt as ▲ STATESMAN; and not merely as a statesman in the undefined sense of that word, but as FIRST MINISTER OF ENGLAND, a person responsible for all the acts of the government, and, in character, responsible for all the evils that befall the country during the continuance of his sway, or in consequence of any measures adopted or invented by him. It is in this character that we must view Mr. Pitt; it is in this character that his memory is responsible to us; it is in this character that I am of opinion he was a very little man; and if I fail in my proof of it, I will (without, however, acknowledging the propriety of the expression) be content to pass for one of the propagators of those "calumnies out of doors," of which Mr. Canning thought proper to complain. -The criterion of greatness in a STATESMAN, who has been prime minister, is not the duration of his power; not the length of time that he was able to keep his place; not the majorities that he kept at his back, in the Houses of Parliament; not the number of peers that he created; not the grants of money, sineeures and pensions that he made; no, nor the increase of commerce and manufactures, however such increase may dazzle some men. The true criterion is, the effect produced by his measures upon the state of the nation at large; upon the situation of the people, upon their means of living, upon their freedom, their morals, their love of country, their happiness; and upon the state of the country relatively to other countries, particularly any country, the augmentation of the power of which must endanger the independance of the country of which the person in question has been minister.If this be the true criterion where by to judge of a minister, and not the opinions of his close companions, or his party adherents, let us proceed to judge of Mr. Pitt by it first observing, that, for 21 years, he had all the means of the country and of the whole of the King's dominions at his com mand. He gained, by means of the popularity which his professions in favour of Parliamentary Reform had given him (and a specimen of which I have taken for my motto); by these means he gained a victory over his great opponent in 1784. From that time to the day of his death his power lasted; for, he chose to make way for Mr. Addington; and, as was proved by the result, he was in a state to resume the office of minister whenever he pleased.--During 21 years he had a decided majority in the two Houses of Parliament: One half, or thereabouts, of the Upper House had been either created or promoted during his ministry; and, in the lower House, what is there that can be named, in the way of gaining influence, that he had not had the power of doing, and that he had not actually done? In the long course of these 21 years, he never proposed or espoused any measure that was rejected; and he never opposed or joined in opposing any measure that was carried; with the exception, as to the former, of the measure of Parliamentary Reform and the Abolition of the Slave Trade, of which we shall have to speak hereafter, when we come to the question of his sincerity.— -During these 21 years he adopted, then, what measures he thought proper, he levied what taxes and what armies he thought proper; he made war and peace when and how he thought proper; he had all the resources of the nation in his hands; he employed them in what manner it seemed meet to him; he was under no controul; and, of course, to him, and to him alone, we are to look for all the changes that have taken place in the internal state of the country, and in the situation of its affairs with regard to foreign nations.The farmer, who has just entered upon his farm, may justly apologize for its ruinous state by alledging that he found it in that state, and that he has not yet had time to better it; but, when you survey a farm at the end of a 21 years lease, you have a right to charge the renter with all the signs of poverty and misery that you perceive. cultivator has no apology to offer; and, as to a minister, he is, if possible, still more destitute of excuse, because, if he had found any thing to thwart his views Such a he might, and it was his duty, quit his place, and state to the nation his reasons for so doing.What, then, are the changes produced in the affairs of this natio'n since 1784 (for, let it be observed, that the system of Mr. Pitt has been acted upon to this hour); what are these changes; what is the state of England now, compared to what it was then, with regard both to its domestic and foreign affairs?-George Rose will tell you, that you are to judge from the Imports and Exports, the Cotton Mills and Spinning Jennies; and Sir John Sinclair will say, look at the increase of Canals, Turnpike Roads, New Enclosures and Threshing Machines; while it is not improbable that Messrs. Perceval and Ryder may endeavour to draw our admiration to the fruitful Statute Book, where we shall find a greater bulk of laws passed during the sway of Mr. Pitt and his successors of the same school, than was passed from the origin of Parliaments in England to the Reign of George the Third; but, "Ye friends to truth, ye statesmen who survey "The rich man's joys increase, the poor's decay," It is yours to judge by other signs than these; it is yours to judge by those effects which regard the happiness of the people and the permanent security of the country's independence.--If, in a single family, consisting of ten brothers, all engaged in industrious pursuits, and gaining each a comfortable subsistence, such a change was introduced as should lift one or two into a coach and four and plunge the other eight into misery or dependence, would any rational man, any man having a due sense of real good and evil, any man having just notions of happiness and of honour; would any man say, that that family had been prosperous? Would he not say, that, upon the whole, its affairs had been badly managed? And, if he could point to the person who had been the cause of the change, who had had the absolute controul over the affairs of the whole of the family, would he not charge that person with having been the cause of a great evil?——Just such has been the great and general tendency of the system of Mr. Pitt; a system, which has taken the earnings away from the nation at large and heaped them upon selected individuals, who have been found, in various ways, necessary to the support of the minister's power.- This is proved by facts that no one can deny, and which facts stand reBorded in the official documents laid be Well! exclaims the true Pittite; but, what signifies this, if all go on increasing with the expenditure? Aye, but do you, together? If the means increase along then, take it for granted, that an increase of taxes imply an increase of means to pay them? That would be a strange way of reasoning. Say, rather, that it argues an increase of the distress and misery occasioned by additional burdens; and, then you have the proof at hand, in the increase of the parish rates. He found the annual Parish He left them (three years before his death)... £. 2,167,749 5,348,205 And, if they could now be ascertained they would, it is fair to presume, be found amounting to not less than seven millions. The number of paupers, in 1803, exceeded 1,200,000, exclusive of a dreadful increase of common beggars; and, indeed, is it not notorious to every one who has eyes or ears, that pauperism and misery has increased almost beyond conception, since the fatal day when Mr. Pitt, through the folly of a deluded nation, obtained a predominance in England ? Since that day, the character of the people has been changed; by the pressure of misery they have had gradually worn out of them that independence of spirit, that dread of becoming dependent, that pride in keeping their names from the parish books, that shame to be entered on the list of paupers; by the pressure of misery, occasioned by taxation, all these feelings have been swept away, and now no one seems to care what are the means by which he can make shift to satisfy the cravings of hun- -Is not this the real state of the case? ger and to keep the cold from his carcass. Will any one deny it? Is not this our siIn the year 1780, or thereabouts, in a tuation with regard to France? For what, parish in Hampshire, which has in it more then, have there been expended NINE than a hundred labourer's families, there HUNDRED MILLIONS of pounds in were but seven families on the parish these wars against France! If, indeed, the books; about five years ago, in that same wars had succeeded; if he and his sucparish, there were only seven not upon the cessors of the same school had diminished parish books. This is, perhaps, rather a the power of France; then there might striking instance; but, who does not know have been some room for saying that there that the increase of pauperism and the was, in our security from without, a comconsequent degradation of character has pensation for the fatal effects of taxation; been dreadful? What, reader, can nay, if France had been kept within her ever compensate us for this? The plague, ancient limits, within the limits in which or civil war, are trifles to such an evil, he found her; but, who is the man that Half a people swept away by either.would will now find a consolation for our internal have been preferable to this general de- sufferings and degradation? Who is the gradation of character; to the fatal ope- man that has the hardihood to look us in ration of this system, which has made the the face and deny, that the whole of this higher ranks of life dependent upon the minister's system has been the most fatal minister of the day, and has, thrown the that ever nation endured?—“ But,” lower upon the higher in the character of say his advocates, " consider the difficul paupers; thus forming and cementing ties, which he had to encounter." I do; into a chain of dependence the whole of but, I also consider, that he was the maker the community, of which chain the minis- of those difficulties. It was he who made ter of the day holds the end and turns the the war with France; for, as to the quibble swivel.Such, deny it who will, has about the first act of hostility, all the world been the effect of Mr. Pitt's measures upon knows the worth of that. He was the authe internal state of the country. "But," thor of all the difficulties that ensued. InI shall be told, "that great as such a stead of following the advice of Mr. Fox "sacrifice is, it is no more than ought to and others, he pursued his own plans; he "be made for the maintenance of the na- conceived the project of beating France "tion's independence against the designs of a through her finances, he repeatedly pre"foreign enemy.”—Why, if you could dicted, in the most confident words, her prove to me that the degradation of the defeat from that cause; and, at the end of people was the best means of providing for 4 years of his war, he saw her replenished national defence, I might argue with you with gold and silver, while he had to anupon such a proposition. But, to discuss nounce to that same Parliament that had this point will be unnecessary, if we only so often been charmed by his predictions, cast our eyes towards the theatre of our that the Bank of England could no longer pay wars; if we only look at the continent its notes. How often did he promise this of Europe, where we see that all Mr. credulous nation “indemnity for the past and Pitt's wars have failed, that all his sub- "security for the future"? How often did he sidies have been thrown away; and that say, that he could consent to no peace in the sweat of England, while it purchased which both should not be obtained? Have the blood of the allies that he gave her, we obtained it? What indemnity shall we has, in the end, in every instance, insured ever see for our nine hundred millions exthe destruction of those allies; till, at last, pended in these wars, and for the flower of we see France, that France whom he the country who have therein shed their found in a state of distraction and debility, blood? And, alas! when will England. the absolute mistress of all Europe, holding again know that state which shall merit the keys of all the rivers and ports, build- the name of security ?Still, there might ing fleets in places whence from the top- have been something to say in his behalf, mast may be seen the mouth of the Thames, if he had not been forewarned of the conseand, in short, making it a question with us quences of his measures. But, at every when and how she will invade us, there stage, he was so forewarned. He was told, being no one, not even Lord Liverpool, from the very outset, that, "should he suc that now ever dreams that we have, or "ceed in stifling liberty in France, he would shall have the power of retaliation," cause the erection of a despotism a thoueither in the way of act or of menace. "sand times more dangerous to England 66 "than any free government could be." | kind, very great talents. All the merSo that, the consequences were not" such chants and manufacturers who ever ap"as no human foresight could reach," as proached him were struck with admiration his advocates have pretended. They could of his talents. He, according to the vulbe foreseen; for, they were foreseen and gar saying "knew their meaning by their foretold; and the only answer those who gaping. He knew all their business foretold them received was, that they were better than they did. His quickness was jacobins, friends of France, traitors, and athe- astonishing. He was an incomparable ists, and as such were they treated; till, at accountant, a consummate clerk, and he last, scarcely any man dared to open his was besides a matchless debater. To a lips in opposition to any measure of the fluency, a command of words, that, perminister. And yet, we are now to be haps, no man ever equalled, he added a. told, that it is calumny to deny that he was readiness of conception, an adriotness in a great man! We are to have before our parrying the force of an argument, a eyes this deplorable situation of our coun- command of temper, political courage, at try; we are to behold the situation of the once a decorum and disregard of means, Bank, where paper is exchanged for paper; surpassing any man of whom we have. we are to hear one of his own creatures ever heard. He was a showy and a shalacknowledge, in print, that the Bank notes low man; but, his talents were precisely have depreciated three shillings in the of the right kind for the theatre on which .pound, and that the fund-holder receives he had to act, and all the machinery and them in this state with the certainty of a tactic of which he understood and knew how daily further depreciation; we are to see to use better, and used with greater sucthe East India Company, which he pro- cesses for his objects, than any man that mised us should contribute towards the ever lived. Here are an abundance of expences of the country, come to the talents; but, they are not such as mark the parliament for assistance out of the GREAT MAN, a character, which, when taxes; we are to have fresh in our we are speaking of statesmen or ministers, memories his loan to Boyd and Benfield belongs to those only, whose wisdom is of £. 40,000 of the public money, with- proved in the benefit which their measures out interest, to enable them to make good produce to their country, not one instance of a loan to that Public, upon which they re- which can, I am firmly persuaded, be ceived interest; we are to see him sliding produced with regard to the measures of out of office while Mr. Addington made Mr. Pitt, with the single exception of the peace and funded the sums for which the Mail Coach establishment, which has in it Income Tax was pledged, and, after the rare union of effects productive to the wards joining his own old opponents to put revenue and beneficial to every individual Mr. Addington out of place,,coming in in the nation, but of which he was not the himself with a part of Mr. Addington's projector, and the manner in which he colleagues whom he had declared weak treated that projector takes from himself, and inefficient; we are to see him set out in my opinion, more than the merit of the with professions in favour of Parliamentary adoption.Now, whoever is offended Reform, and we are afterwards to hear his at this my opinion may be well assured, evidence in the case of Mr. Horne Tooke that I am not to be answered by imputations who was tried for his life, under his admi- of bad motives, or by charges of calumny. nistration, for endeavouring to accomplish If my facts be not true, or if my inferences that which he had originally brought for be not fair, the proving of the falshood of ward in conjunction with that very Mr. the one, or the unfairness of the other, Tooke; we are to see him in a minority will be an answer to me; but, to call me on the question of the Slave Trade; we a calumniator, in answer to fact and arguare to have upon record all his predictions ment, will serve no other purpose than about French assignats, all his military that of exposing the accuser to contempt. projects, we are to remember his cars and catamarans and sympathetic battalions; and, with all this and a thousand other proofs of his real character before us, we are to be called calumniators if we deny him the title of A GREAT MAN!But, do we deny him talents? Oh, no! We never did, He had talents, and, of their I should apologize for having taken up so much of my room and of the reader's time with the foregoing statements and observations, were I not thoroughly convinced of the great importance of the subject, and⚫ did not experience of the past convince me, that the making of a question of Mr. Pitt's character ought not to be considered as a |