"Now," says the writer in the Quarterly Review, No. 133, "began that brilliant period of our history, Mr. Pitt's administration; and however liable to the imputations of faction and inconsistency was his road to power, it cannot be denied that he exercised it with patriotism, spirit, and success. At his succession, the fortunes of England and her allies were at the lowest ebb: discord at home; disasters abroad; a general despondency. His appointment seemed, like an electric shock, to awake and vivify and invigorate all. It may be said that many of his projects were injudicious, and many of his measures failures; that he owed something to luck, and a great deal to the indomitable spirit and astonishing success of the King of Prussia. All this is true; but it rather enhances than detracts from the fame of the man, that his projects, even when injudicious, were noble; that he triumphed over failures; seemed to guide Fortune; and was capable of appreciating the genius, of invigorating the spirit, and of anticipating and improving the successes of Frederick the Great."* This year Mr. Pitt purchased Hayes Place, a short distance from Bromley, on the road to Sevenoaks. This became the favourite residence of the statesman: here his second son, William Pitt, was born in 1759; and here Lord Chatham breathed his last. In a future page will be found a description of Hayes Place, and other of Lord Chatham's residences. MR. PITT AND THE SENTENCE ON ADMIRAL BYNG. The conduct of Mr. Pitt in the affair of Admiral Byng, * This year the Duke of Grafton died. He was a few days older than the King, (George II.); had been Lord Chamberlain during the whole reign; and had a particular manner of talking to his master on all subjects, and of touching upon the most tender points, which no other person ever ventured to imitate. He usually turned politics into ridicule; had never applied himself to business; and as to books, was totally ignorant: yet from long observation, and great natural sagacity, he became the ablest courtier of his time; had the most perfect knowledge both of King and ministers; and had more opportunities than any man of doing good or bad offices. He was a great teaser, and had an established right of saying what he pleased.— Waldegrave's Memoirs, from 1754 to 1758. who suffered death from an error of judgment in command, in 1757, has been much impugned. It seems to be generally admitted that Pitt was willing that the unhappy officer should be pardoned. He ventured to put both his power and his popularity to hazard in Parliament, and, with true spirit, avowed himself on the side of mercy. He wished it might be extended to the prisoner, and owned he thought more good would come from mercy than rigour. The next day he moved the King for mercy, but was cut very short: nor did his Majesty remember to ask his usual question, "Whether there were any favourable circumstances ?" But the King was inexorable. "The House of Commons, Sir," said Pitt, "seems inclined to mercy." "Sir," answered the King, "you have taught me to look for the sense of my people in other places than the House of Commons." The saying has more point than most of those which are recorded of George the Second, and, though sarcastically meant, contains a high and just compliment to Pitt. Pitt appeared to wish to throw the unpopularity of the act on the King personally. "This," says the writer in the Quarterly Review, No. 131, "if true, was a lamentable deficiency of moral courage and of right feeling, and a grave error in a constitutional point of view. We, however, confess we have some doubt of what has been stated of Mr. Pitt's Mr. Pitt must have sentiments on this melancholy occasion. known the sentence to have been not only legal but just,— for else, he, who permitted the execution, would have been. guilty of the worst of murder; but we really doubt whether he really thought it a case for the royal mercy-for when a respite of the sentence became unavoidable, in consequence of the parliamentary inquiry into some circumstances connected with the court-martial, Mr. Pitt himself announced it in a message from the King-worded with superfluous severity, for the obvious purpose of removing all suspicion that the respite implied any disposition to pardon, if the sentence should be found legal. It begins thus: "His Majesty, agreeably to his royal word, for the sake of justice, and of example to the discipline of the Navy, and for the safety and honour of the nation, was determined to have let the law take its course with relation to Admiral Byng, upon Monday next, and resisted all solicitations to the contrary." After stating that the King thinks it right to suspend the execution till the alleged illegality be inquired into, it concludes: "His Majesty is determined to let the sentence be carried into execution, unless it shall appear from the said examination that Admiral Byng was unjustly condemned." "Surely," adds the Reviewer, "Mr. Pitt-though he spoke in a sharp debate which followed with becoming humanity towards the prisoner-could not have penned and presented this message, if he had not fully determined in his own mind that the sentence, if legally valid, was morally just, and ought to be carried into execution.' ""* MR. PITT INTRUSTS GEN. WOLFE WITH THE EXPEDITION AGAINST QUEBEC. When, in 1759, Pitt had prepared his scheme for the conquest of Canada, Wolfe, who had just returned to England, after the conquest of Cape Breton, lost no time in offering his services to the minister. Pitt, on his part, bravely set at defiance the claims of seniority on this most important occasion. Had he consulted these claims only,-had he, like many Ministers before and after him, thought the Army List an unerring guide,—he might, probably, have sent out to * Admiral Byng was shot on board the Monarch, ship of war, at Spithead, March 14, 1757. The following bold inscription was cut upon his tomb at South-hill, Bedfordshire: THE "TO THE PERPETUAL DISGRACE OF PUBLIC JUSTICE, HONOURABLE JOHN BYNG FELL A MARTYR TO WHEN BRAVERY AND LOYALTY WERE INSUFFICIENT SECURITIES |