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and in the command which his eloquence gave him over the House of Commons.

Pitt's popularity, indeed, was soon roughly shaken; for the ministry was hardly formed when it was announced that its leader had accepted the earldom of Chatham. The step removed him to the House of Lords, and for a while ruined the public confidence which his reputation for unselfishness had aided him to win. But it was from no vulgar ambition that Pitt laid down his title of the Great Commoner. The nervous disorganization which had shown itself three years before in his despair upon Temple's desertion had never ceased to hang around him, and it had been only at rare intervals that he had forced himself from his retirement to appear in the House of Commons. It was the consciousness of coming weakness that made him shun the storms of debate. But in the cabinet he showed all his old energy. The most jealous of his fellow-ministers owned his supremacy. At the close of one of his earliest councils Charles Townshend acknowledged to a colleague, "Lord Chatham has just shown to us what inferior animals we are!" Plans were at once set on foot for the better government of Ireland, for the transfer of India from the Company to the crown, and for the formation of an alliance with Prussia and Russia to balance the family compact of the house of Bourbon. The alliance was foiled for the moment by the coldness of Frederick of Prussia. The first steps toward Indian reform were only taken by the ministry under severe pressure from Pitt. Petty jealousies, too, brought about the withdrawal of some of the Whigs, and the hostility of Rockingham was shown by the fierce attacks of Burke in the House of Commons. But secession and invective had little effect on the ministry. "The session," wrote Horace Walpole to a friend at the close of 1776, “has ended triumphantly for the great earl;" and when Chatham withdrew to Bath, to mature his plans for the coming year, his power remained unshaken.-J. R. GREEN.

DEATH OF LORD CHATHAM.

On the 7th of April, 1778, Lord Chatham made his appearance, for the last time, in the House of Lords. It is a day

memorable for the occurrence of one of the most affecting scenes ever witnessed in Parliament—a day when the great master of modern oratory was overwhelmed by the effort of his own powerful eloquence.

Lord Chatham was ignorant of the real state of feeling in America. He imagined that the colonies might be brought back to their former allegiance to the British government. He did not wish to see the extensive dominion of old England rent in twain, and the independence of America recognized. He could not endure these thoughts. He therefore heard, "with unspeakable concern," that the Duke of Richmond intended, on the 7th of April, to move an address to the king, advising him to effect a conciliation with America, involving her independence. Such a measure he thought was disastrous and ruinous to the prosperity and happiness of England. He determined to take a bold stand against it, and accordingly was carried to the House of Lords, to raise his voice against the dismemberment of the empire. He was led into the House of Peers by his son, the Honorable William Pitt, and his sonin-law Lord Mahon.

He was dressed in a rich suit of black velvet, and covered up to the knees in flannel. Within his large wig little more of his countenance was seen than his aquiline nose, and his penetrating eye, which retained all its native fire. He looked like a dying man, yet never was seen a figure of more dignity. He appeared like a being of a superior species. The Lords stood up and made a lane for him to pass to his seat, while, with a gracefulness of deportment for which he was so eminently distinguished, he bowed to them as he proceeded. Having taken his seat, he listened with profound attention to the Duke of Richmond's speech. When Lord Weymouth had finished his reply in behalf of the ministry, Lord Chatham rose with slowness and great difficulty, and delivered the following speech. Supported by his two relations, he lifted his hand from the crutch on which he leaned, raised it up, and, casting his eyes toward heaven, commenced as follows:

"I thank God that I have been enabled to come here today-to perform my duty, and speak on a subject which is so deeply impressed on my mind. I am old and infirm. I have

one foot-more than one foot-in the grave. I have risen from my bed to stand up in the cause of my country-perhaps never again to speak in this house."

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"The reverence, the attention, the stillness of the House,' said an eye-witness, "were here most affecting: had any one dropped a handkerchief, the noise would have been heard." As he proceeded, Lord Chatham spoke at first in a low tone, with all the weakness of one who is laboring under severe indisposition. Gradually, however, as he warmed with the subject, his voice became louder and more distinct, his intonations grew more commanding, and his whole manner was solemn and impressive in the highest degree.

"My Lords," he exclaimed, "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, while I have sense and memory, I will never consent to deprive the offspring of the royal house of Brunswick, the heirs of the Princess Sophia, of their fairest inheritance. Shall we tarnish the lustre of this nation by an ignominious surrender of its rights and fairest possessions? Shall this great nation, that has survived, whole and entire, the Danish depredations, the Scottish inroads, the Norman conquest that has stood the threatening 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 seventeen years ago was the terror of the world, now stoop so low as to tell its ancient inveterate enemy, Take all we have, only give us peace? It is impossible.

"In God's name, if it is absolutely necessary to declare either for peace or war, and the former cannot be preserved with honor, why is not the latter commenced without delay? I am not, I confess, well informed as to 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!"

When Lord Chatham had taken his seat Lord Temple said VIII-23

to him, "You have forgotten to mention what we have been talking about. Shall I get up?" "No," replied Lord Chatham, "I will do it by and by."

After the Duke of Richmond had concluded his speech, Lord Chatham made a strenuous attempt to rise; but after repeated efforts to regain an erect position, he suddenly pressed his hand to his heart, and fell down in convulsions. The Duke of Cumberland, Lord Temple, Lord Sanford, and other peers, caught him in their arms; and his son, the celebrated William Pitt, then a youth of seventeen, sprang forward to support him. The debate was immediately adjourned. Lord Chatham was conveyed in a state of insensibility from the House to his country residence at Hayes, where he lingered a few days, and expired on the 11th of May, 1778, aged seventy years.

As Demosthenes and Cicero are allowed to have been the greatest orators of whom antiquity can boast, so Lord Chatham has generally been regarded as the most brilliant and powerful senatorial orator of modern times. Certainly, no political speaker, since the days of the Grecian and Roman masters, ever controlled a popular assembly with such absolute sway as Lord Chatham did, by the force of his oratory. His eloquence was irresistible. The fire of his eye, the majesty of his countenance, and the thunder of his voice, awed an assembly into silence, or struck them with terror.-D. A. HARSHA.

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TIBERIUS, the second Roman emperor, whose reign is rendered forever memorable by the public ministry and death of Jesus the Christ, in the Roman province of Judea, is one of the enigmatical characters of history. Most historians, following the accounts of his contemporaries, stigmatize him as a monster of cruelty, and Merivale characterizes him as "a man singularly dark and inscrutable, with a stern, penetrating mind, the most artful of dissemblers and most terrible of monsters."

Tiberius Claudius Nero was born in Rome, in November, 42 B.C. His father bore the same name, and his mother was the famous Livia Drusilla, who became the wife of the Emperor Augustus about four years after her son Tiberius was born. He was liberally educated and was well versed in Greek and Latin literature. He married Vipsania Agrippina, a daughter of that Agrippa who commanded the fleet of Augustus and contributed to his victories. By the influence of his mother, Tiberius was rapidly promoted, becoming quæstor at the age of eighteen, and he served with distinction in Asia Minor, Spain and Germany. When but twenty-two years of age, he was sent by Augustus with an army to place Tigranes on the throne of Armenia as a Roman vassal. Tiberius became governor of Transalpine Gaul in 16 B.C., and

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