登陆注册
4705400000230

第230章

When the Duke of Richmond had spoken, Chatham rose. For some time his voice was inaudible. At length his tones became distinct and his action animated. Here and there his hearers caught a thought or an expression which reminded them of William Pitt. But it was clear that he was not himself. He lost the thread of his discourse, hesitated, repeated the same words several times, and was so confused that, in speaking of the Act of Settlement, he could not recall the name of the Electress Sophia. The House listened in solemn silence, and with the aspect of profound respect and compassion. The stillness was so deep that the dropping of a handkerchief would have been heard. The Duke of Richmond replied with great tenderness and courtesy; but while he spoke, the old man was observed to be restless and irritable. The Duke sat down. Chatham stood up again, pressed his hand on his breast, and sank down in an apoplectic fit. Three or four lords who sat near him caught him in his fall. The House broke up in confusion. The dying man was carried to the residence of one of the officers of Parliament, and was so far restored as to be able to bear a journey to Hayes. At Hayes, after lingering a few weeks, he expired in his seventieth year. His bed was watched to the last, with anxious tenderness, by his wife and children; and he well deserved their care. Too often haughty and wayward to others, to them he had been almost effeminately kind. He had through life been dreaded by his political opponents, and regarded with more awe than love even by his political associates. But no fear seems to have mingled with the affection which his fondness, constantly overflowing in a thousand endearing forms, had inspired in the little circle at Hayes.

Chatham, at the time of his decease, had not, in both Houses of Parliament, ten personal adherents. Half the public men of the age had been estranged from him by his errors, and the other half by the exertions which he had made to repair his errors. His last speech had been an attack at once on the policy pursued by the Government, and on the policy recommended by the Opposition. But death restored him to his old place in the affection of his country. Who could hear unmoved of the fall of that which had been so great, and which had stood so long? The circumstances, too, seemed rather to belong to the tragic stage than to real life. A great statesman, full of years and honours, led forth to the Senate House by a son of rare hopes, and stricken down in full council while straining his feeble voice to rouse the drooping spirit of his country, could not but be remembered with peculiar veneration and tenderness. The few detractors who ventured to murmur were silenced by the indignant clamours of a nation which remembered only the lofty genius, the unsullied probity, the undisputed services, of him who was no more. For once, the chiefs of all parties were agreed. A public funeral, a public monument, were eagerly voted. The debts of the deceased were paid. A provision was made for his family. The City of London requested that the remains of the great man whom she had so long loved and honoured might rest under the dome of her magnificent cathedral. But the petition came too late. Everything was already prepared for the interment in Westminster Abbey.

Though men of all parties had concurred in decreeing posthumous honours to Chatham, his corpse was attended to the grave almost exclusively by opponents of the Government. The banner of the lordship of Chatham was borne by Colonel Barre, attended by the Duke of Richmond and Lord Rockingham. Burke, Savile, and Dunning upheld the pall. Lord Camden was conspicuous in the procession.

The chief mourner was young William Pitt. After the lapse of more than twenty-seven years, in a season as dark and perilous, his own shattered frame and broken heart were laid, with the same pomp, in the same consecrated mould.

Chatham sleeps near the northern door of the Church, in a spot which has ever since been appropriated to statesmen, as the other end of the same transept has long been to poets. Mansfield rests there, and the second William Pitt, and Fox, and Grattan, and Canning, and Wilberforce. In no other cemetery do so many great citizens lie within so narrow a space. High over those venerable graves towers the stately monument of Chatham, and from above, his effigy, graven by a cunning hand, seems still, with eagle face and outstretched arm, to bid England be of good cheer, and to hurl defiance at her foes. The generation which reared that memorial of him has disappeared. The time has come when the rash and indiscriminate judgments which his contemporaries passed on his character may be calmly revised by history. And history, while, for the warning of vehement, high, and daring natures, she notes his many errors, will yet deliberately pronounce, that, among the eminent men whose bones lie near his, scarcely one has left a more stainless, and none a more splendid name.

同类推荐
  • NOSTROMO

    NOSTROMO

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 方等三昧行法

    方等三昧行法

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 瓶粟斋诗话续编

    瓶粟斋诗话续编

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 重阳席上赋白菊

    重阳席上赋白菊

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • Villainage in England

    Villainage in England

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 广大莲华庄严曼拏罗灭一切罪陀罗尼经

    广大莲华庄严曼拏罗灭一切罪陀罗尼经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 清穿之坐享其成

    清穿之坐享其成

    虽然也是清穿,但是总比不能活着强,好歹是有空间作为补偿,这也不错了。兰庭认为自己算是搭上了空间热流,有这么一个外挂在,生活还是可以期待的。什么空间不小心送错人?兰庭大怒,是谁抢了我的空间。重生的雍正(记忆被封存)很奇怪怎么一觉醒来他多了一个仙境,有付出才会有收获,所以四四得到了空间,自然也是有代价的——一生一世一双人啊!
  • 诗地理考

    诗地理考

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • Hunting the Grisly and Other Sketches

    Hunting the Grisly and Other Sketches

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 驴友入门宝典

    驴友入门宝典

    这是中国大陆第一本基础知识类的驴友入门书籍,是写给全国几千万初、中级驴友看的书。这是一本作者参加户外活动7年多、带队出行200余次的经验总结,主要针对的是短程、低海拔、低难度的户外活动,向大家介绍关于驴友的基础知识、户外装备、安全知识、户外小经验、特种户外、省钱攻略、带队常识等等。本书内容全面、通俗易懂,涉及的都是初、中级驴友最关心的、实用的内容,可以帮助初、中级驴友快速成长,更安全、更开心、更省钱的走遍祖国的山山水水!
  • 全运会制度变迁中的秩序、认同与利益

    全运会制度变迁中的秩序、认同与利益

    中国体育发展史上,历经百年历史的全运会带给人们的思考往往具有重要的意义。$$从晚清政府的第一届全运会,北洋军阀政府的第二、第三届全运会,到民国政府的第四至第七届全运会、新中国中央人民政府的第一至第十一届全运会,作为中国运动竞赛体系中竞技体育水平最高、规模最大、影响最广的综合性体育赛事,以竞赛为杠杆,搭建了不同利益主体通过竞争实现利益的平台,演绎了利益相关者关系演变的趋势与轨迹,展示了社会政治、经济文化对体育的影响,透视了体育竞赛所特有的窗口作用。$$百年全运会,当它进入21世纪的时候,废存争议之声鹊起,观点鲜明,唇枪舌剑。
  • 绮罗魅世香:四嫁千金

    绮罗魅世香:四嫁千金

    她重生为凤府的病西施,南宫家的退婚,往日承诺重提,让她不得不嫁给傻子王爷……侯爷之子为她中美人局,被父斥逆子,天下人讥笑,他却不改初衷……凤曦在阴谋漩涡中求生,回首灯火阑珊处,谁是真心,谁是假意……
  • 玄武天下(7)

    玄武天下(7)

    千世的轮回消磨不了他(刀)内在的杀气。万年的魔咒尘封不住他(剑)体内的战意。他们的出世使平静的乐士烽烟四起!他们的重逢将武界引入神魔之境!四帝的传说,神祇的传奇,导致大冥乐土万世伟业分崩离析。一位自认能战胜传说的惊世强者在战火中崛起,他以不屈的战意与传说之剑融为一体,并以玄道意境与火帝之女展开千世的恋情。神祇的荣辱,乐土的存亡,武道的兴衰与他的命运息息相连。
  • 善神传

    善神传

    好吃吗?”朝阳何尝不知他吃的是姐姐的肉?只是为了他那天龙帝干万人民!上辈子他好歹是神|此仇必须报
  • 公子留步,这个龙女很多情

    公子留步,这个龙女很多情

    七十年前,江湖上四大门派和四大妖族业已形成,四大门派中以长春派为尊,四大妖族以龙族为王。八足鼎立的形式虽看上去十分平稳,实则岌岌可危。被封印了五十年的龙月恒被尹清远意外唤醒,二人从抗拒世俗到相互误解。这场有趣儿的故事才刚刚开始。--情节虚构,请勿模仿