As Chatham sat down, his brother-in-law, Lord Temple, said to him, "You forgot to mention what we talked of; shall I get up?"
"No, no," replied Chatham, "I will do it by-and-by." The Duke of Richmond then arose, and replied to Chatham. When he sat down, the great orator attempted to rise, but the violence of his indignation overcame him, and he swooned. He was caught in friendly arms, and the whole House, in great agitation, crowded around him with anxious solicitude. * He was conveyed to the house of a friend in Downing Street, and the following day he was carried home to his country seat at Hayes. That speech was, indeed, his last, for, in a little more than a month afterward, he expired. May 11, 1778 Parliament voted him a public funeral and a monument; and, after settling upon his family an annuity of twenty thousand dollars a year, a grant was made of one hundred thousand dollars to pay off his lordship's debts. The last words of the great orator were agreeable to the royal ears,
* John Singleton Copley, the eminent American artist, painted a representation of this scene for the House of Lords. In a note on page 496 of the first volume of this work, I have placed Copley among the early refugee Loyalists. History and fair inference have assigned him that position, partly on account of his marriage relation with a family of Loyalists, and partly because he was one of the addressers of Hutchinson, left the country with him, and was intimate with him in London. Sabine places him among the Loyalists, and his biographers generally have given him that character. Since the publication of that volume, I have been Informed that the late John Quincy Adams, who knew Copley and his sentiments intimately, denied that he was a Loyalist; on the contrary, he averred that he was a Whig in sentiment during the whole controversy, and adduced, among other evidence, the fact, that when commissioned to make two paintings, one for the House of Lords and the other for the House of Commons, he chose as a subject for the former, The Death of Chatham, and for the latter, Charles the First in Parliament. The scene of the last picture is at the moment when the speaker uttered to the king the republican sentiment, "I have no eyes to see, no ears to hear, no mouth to speak, but as Parliament directs implying entire subserviency to the popular will. Mr. Adams said Copley went to England, not as a fugitive, but entirely on account of his profession, which disturbances in Boston had almost destroyed.
** William Pitt, the first Earl of Chatham, was born on the 5th of November, 1708. He was educated at Eton, and entered Trinity College, Oxford, in 1726. He left that institution for a military profession, which he entered with the rank of cornet. He was elected a member of Parliament for Old Sarum in 1735, and soon became distinguished for his eloquence and extensive information. He was in the ranks of the opposition against Walpole, and, for his good service against that minister, Walpole's inveterate enemy, the Duchess of Marlborough, left Pitt, in her will, fifty thousand dollars. From 1746 until 1755, he was treasurer of Ireland, paymaster of the army, and privy counselor. He was made secretary of state in 1756, and had the direction of the war bureau during a late portion of the progress of the Seven Years' war. He retired from office on the accession of George III., but continued in Parliament. In 1766 he was created Earl Chatham, and occupied the privy seal in the administration. This office he resigned in 1768; and from that period until his death, an hereditary gout kept him much at home and undermined his constitution. He was struck down with apoplexy upon the floor of the House of Lords on the 7th of April, 1778, and died on the 11th of May following, at the age of 70. * "His disposition," says Brougham, "was exceedingly affectionate. The pride, bordering upon insolence, in which he showed himself incased to the world, fell naturally from him, and without any effort to put it off, as he crossed the threshold of his own door. To all his family he was civil, kindly, and gentle. His pursuits were of a nature that showed how much he loved to unbend himself. He delighted in poetry and other light reading; was fond of music; loved the country; took peculiar pleasure in gardening; and had even an extremely happy taste in laying out grounds."
Pitt's Funeral and Monument.—North's conciliatory Propositions rejected.—-Arrival of Commissioners.—Governor Tryon.
and the king was pleased to bestow his bounty when "the trumpet of sedition" * was silenced.
The conciliatory bills arrived in America about the middle of April. Governor Tryon, of New York, caused them to be printed and extensively circulated. As they did not positively propose the independence of the colonies as a basis of negotiation, they were regarded by the patriots with suspicion, and were denominated the "deceptionary bills."
"Nothing short of independence, it appears to me, will do," Washington wrote. "A peace on other terms would, if I may be allowed the expression, be a peace of war." Congress entertained the same sentiments. As soon as draughts of the bills were received by that body, they were referred to a committee. When they reported, some discussion arose, but it April 22, 1778 was unanimously resolved that the terms offered were totally inadequate, and that no advances on the part of the British government for a peace would be met, unless, as a preliminary step, they either withdrew their armies and fleets, or acknowledged, unequivocally, the independence of the United States. ** This report, and other resolutions adopted on the following day, were printed with the "deceptionary bills," and circulated throughout the country. ***