WILLIAM PITT,
Born 1752.—Died 1806.—George II.—George III.
The second son of Lord Chatham, born at Hayes, in Kent, was a greater statesman even than his father. At the age of twenty-three he became Chancellor of the Exchequer, and was Prime Minister almost till his death. His eloquence was brilliant and startling, and in spite of opposition sneers, and the ridicule which nicknamed him “the ambitious young man,” and of being often in a minority, the support of the king (George III.) and of the country, who enthusiastically seconded his opposition to Napoleon Buonaparte and the First Empire, steadily maintained him in power, and he held his ground against Fox and the Coalition ministries. War was declared with France, against all that Fox, Sheridan, and Grey could advance. The battle of Trafalgar raised his hopes of peace, which the news of Austerlitz quenched; and being worn out with gout, toil, and anxieties, the great minister, as has been well said, “died of old age at forty-six,” after nineteen years of public service. He was so thoroughly beloved that the nation voted him a magnificent funeral, burial in Westminster Abbey, and £40,000 to pay his debts.
CHARLES JAMES FOX.
Born 1749.—Died 1806.—George II.—George III.
This great orator and statesman, the third son of the first Lord Holland, belonged to the opposite party in politics to Pitt, and they were continually at war throughout their public career,—Pitt representing the Tory, Fox the Whig party. Fox made his first speech in Parliament against John Wilkes, who at that time was always stirring up sedition and spreading his infidel opinions. The Fox and North coalitions broke up on an Indian Bill, and the one hundred and sixty supporters of Fox who lost their seats in the election that followed, were known as “Fox’s Martyrs.” Fox estranged Burke from him by his opposing the war with France, and thus tacitly supporting the French Revolution. After the death of Pitt, Fox again came into power under Lord Grenville, and his last acts were striving to put an end to slavery in the British dependencies, and bringing about peace with France. He was attacked with dropsy about seven months after the death of Pitt, at whose funeral he had spoken a noble eulogium on his great public rival.
MUNGO PARK.
Born 1771.—Died 1806.—George III.
Born near Selkirk, was the first modern traveller who penetrated into the heart of Africa. He went down the Niger, and after passing through a great variety of adventures and hardships, he was killed near Boussa.