The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-03-19

by the people; he was admired by all Europe
He was the first Englishman Of his time
and he had made England the hrst country
In tho world The Great Commoner' the
name by which he was often designated
might look down with scorn on coronets
and garters. The nation was drunk with
Joy and pride. Wings and Tories, Church-
men and Puritans, spoke with equal rever-
ence OF the Constitution, and with equal
enthusiasm Of the talent, virtue and services
Of the Minister" Horace WalpOle tells
Ms that on Pitts fall, il was difficult to say
which exulted most, France. Spain OF Butte.
On the other hand. the British nation was
thundeTstrlok, alarmed and indignant.
II ia we'll known that Chatham's second
administration fell TO pieces owing TO the
prolonged and pitiable nervous prostration
OF the Great Earl In the judgment OF
Sir Andrew Clark, suppressed govt had
disordered Chatham's whole nervous sys-
TEN and driven him into a state Of mental
depression equivalent to insanity. Not
until after a bad attack Of external govt
did the patient entirely recover his force OF
mind. It behooves Americans 10 remember
that when George Granville proposed his
Stamp Act Of 1895 Chatham was III in bed
and remained for that year absent from
Parliament. The repeal Of the Stamp
Act in the following twelyemonth was due
mainly TO the indignant remonstrance OF
Chatham, who 4rejoiced that America had
resisted When Townsend, in 1893, carried
his fatal law TO tax colonial imports,
Chatham was not only PROSTATE and absent
but unable TO know what was being done.
His just indignation broke forth in public
and In private when be returned to the pollt-
ical stage and found what irreparable mis-
chief had been wrought under cover OF his
own name. In i774 Chatham made an inn
FASHIONED protest against any taxation
Of the oolonists and against the methods
Of military coercion by which taxation was
enforced Even after Burgoyne had sur
rendered, but before the news reached
England. Chatham made q fervent appeal
against measures which had reduced, he
said late fiourishing empire TO ruin and
contempt. To France, the agelong enemy
Of his country he would yield nothing;
but TO the American people, whom he loved
and honored, he would conoede everything.
II, in his last speech, he acclaimed against
the recognition OF American Independence.
it was because France had interposed In
favor Of the Colonies.
II the record Of Chatham's relation toward
England's transatlantic possessions be con-
sidered as a whole, II must be recognized
that he has a better title 10 the gratitude
and affection Of Americans than has any
other human being except Washington and
Lincoln This truth has never been ex-
pressed more adequately than It IL in the
words with which Sir George Trevelyan,
the latest historian Of the American Revo-
luton. sums up the last years Of Chatham's
career. They should be engraved upon
our memories. with his broad heart,
his swift perception and his capacious in
tellect. Chatham knew America, and he
loved her. He was known and loved by
her in return. He had done more for her
than any ruler had done for any country
since william the Silent saved and made
Holland. She repaid him with a true
loyalty. When the evil day came, 1t was
TO Chatham that she looked for the good
Offices which might avert an appeal TO
arms. When hostilihes had broken out
she fixed on him her hopes Of an honorable
peace. And when he died-in the very act
Of confessing her wrongs, though Of re-
pudiating and condemning the establish
ment Of that national independence on which
her own mind was by that time irrevocably
set-she refused 10 allow that she had any
thing TO forgive him, and mourned for him
as father Of her people, NJ. W. II.