The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1866-04-08
Lord Chatham and Andrew Jackson.

Lord Chatham and Andrew Jackson.
William Pitt, subsequently Lord
Chatham, succeeded a century ago to
the premiership of England, after
the extinguishment of q fierce rebel
lion in Scotland; and Andrew John
son became President at the close of
terrific civil war. The perils that
encompass our President are similar
to those perils which confronted Lord
Chatham when he entered the halls
of State. Hence the proceedings of
that brilliant statesman furnish
historical lamp to our feet, and a
g1llee to our understanding.
On his accession to power he found
Scotland hating England, and Eng
land hating Scotland; the Scotch
were writhing under the bloody
and cruel penalties they had in
CURED by reasonable acts for
several years The English, led
by the Duke of Cumberland, had
slaughtered q pathway through vene-
rable cities and hourishing villages
The devastation committed by the
British army on their sister kingdom,
may be judged of by the fact that
the country, for fifty miles around
the victorious soldiery, was plundered
and ravaged, not man or a house
remaining. The English had made
desert, and called it prosperity;
they had created solitude, and call
ed it happiness. Scotland had been
conquered in body, but not in spirit;
for murmur of discomfort swept on
the wings of every breeze, and the
Highland clans, whose romantic re-
collections were blended with Scotch
history for many centuries, being
dissolved by Act of Parliament, and
the power of the chief over his tribe
broken, were still nurseries of trea-
son in thought, if not in action. To
wipe away all record of Scotland ma
tionality, Parliament prohibited the
use~of the Tartan plaid in Scotch
mans dress. Still, even this warfare
upon the many-colored stuff, which
entered into the gsrb of both men
and women, did not restore their
affection for Government which
prescribed them, and did not induce
them to pay greater homage to those
Laws which offered mercy to all but
themselves
At this er;,, Lord Chatham became
Prime Minister. A large party of
English noblemen demanded a con-
tinuance of the old penal measures
against Scotland, but they mistook
Lord Chatham; he soon showed to
them that he was a man full of the
purest humanity, as well as states
men whose lofty genius rose, under a
sense of duty to the whole British en-
pire, above the sordid bias of faction.
The plan he proposed for healing
these national grievances was simple
Knowing that proud men, whose
hearts pulsate with historic blood, and
whose memories are reservoirs Of
deeds whose worst features are rash
ness and a mistaken pride, are to be
governed more through their feelings
than thought, through their time
honored prejudices than by their
fears, he decided at once to appeal to
the self-respect and good humor of
the Scotch. He repealed all enact
ments against their tartan garments,
he re-created Scotch regiments that
had been disbanded, he invited tho
young Highlanders to enter tire ranks
of the army, and gave commissions
to the most deserving. He granted
their cities some commercial privi-
leges, and offered the hand of friend
ship to whole irritated people. The
effect was magical. Scotland became
regenerate. The land of traitors
SPREAD out at once as the land of pa
triots. Rejoicings took the place of
groans, and smiles lighted up the
faces that, for years, had been wrin-
kled with frowns, or wet with tears.
The battle-felds of Germany, Canada
and Hindostan, for Lord Chatham
was circling the globe with the fires
of the British valor, and the pealing
music of British victories, were glo-
rious witnesses to the military prov
ess and unshaken fidelity of the Scotch.
The pen of impartial history will ever
delight to record SO precious an epi-
sode in the epic of national grandeur.
What Englishman would dare tear
the page from the annals of his coun-
try which records the conquest of
Chatham's genius over every obsta
cle, of his gentleness in subduing a
atiQp's hatred, of his sagacity which
to rule all parts Of VIDE
.