drunk more port than was common even at the end of the eighteenth century. The disease which killed him at the age of forty-six was kept at bay by alcohol. But only once was he seen in the House of Commons with his mind so clouded by wine that he could not conduct the debate.1 Yet there is one vice which he inherited from his father-the vice of extravagance. Able as he was in finance, he was powerless to control his household. Of him it might be said with perfect truth that he was alieni appetens, sui profugus. His friends did all that prudence and generosity could suggest to set his affairs in order, but without avail. While Pitt declined to accept the 1 His opponents made the best of the chance which this accident gave them. It inspired Porson to the composition of a hundred epigrams. But the best is by another hand : "Pitt. I cannot see the Speaker! Hal, can you? gifts freely offered by the King or by the City, he could not, in the stress of affairs, set his house in order. The Minister who controlled the fate of Europe was more than once threatened with executions and other legal processes. And it is satisfactory to think that after his death the House of Commons unanimously voted the sum which, while alive, he sedulously declined. But these are slight blemishes upon a noble career of courage and devotion. Born to an inheritance of patriotism, trained in a great school of statesmanship, Pitt lived and died the loyal servant of his country. If the security of England were at stake, he shrank from no sacrifice, he deemed no toil excessive. Like all heroes, he fought the battle alone, and alone enjoyed the fruits of victory. As he could place but slight dependence upon friends, so he was indifferent to the insolence of his enemies. In the days of his fiercest conflict he saw himself deserted by colleagues, and attacked with all the fury of success by exulting opponents. But he neither wavered in his purpose nor changed his policy a jot. Perhaps the one man in Europe who understood his solitary grandeur was Napoleon. "Ah!" said the Emperor, "if I had such an instrument, I should not be afraid of the Chambers." And Napoleon understood him, because he faced him and fought him. Nor was Pitt's career incomplete, because his purpose was not achieved. Though he died with the gloom of Austerlitz upon him, he saw clearly the ultimate end of the war. "Roll up the map of Europe," said he when he returned home for the last time in 1806; "it will not be wanted for ten years." And not for ten years did the battle of Waterloo, which his genius had prepared and which his wisdom foresaw, restore to England and to Europe the honourable peace to gain which all his battles, by land and by sea, had been fought. THE END. PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, |