The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 4. PITT'S GREATNESS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 224, 4 January 1911, Page 4

The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 4. PITT'S GREATNESS.

It is a piquant and probably unparalleled incident to find a Prime Minister writing the biography of another Prime Minister, and that both should be remarkable orators. Such is the conjunction of facts we And in Lord Rosebery's new book, which tells us of "Chatham: His Early Life and Connections." This book is a most brilliant piece of writing. Lord Rosebery is an enthusiastic admirer of Pitt, and from the outset one feels that the writer knows all there is to know about him. Evidence abounds as to the trouble, the minute research, and the intimate knowledge which go to the making of this book. The story is the story of Chatham by Rosebery. Open it where you will, and the Rosebery thread runs through. One test of great personality is whether its insistence irritates or charms, and here all will agree that the writer's personality is of the very essence, and makes the charm of the book. There are innumerable asides which lead you on from page to page, expectant of what will come next. What is genius? What is oratory? How many village Hampdens and Miltons have passed away mute from premature death? For how many men has death come too late? These are some of the impromptu questions put to us. We are reminded that Napoleon closed his career at forty-six; that Pitt's grandfather was "a shrewd old nabob, who discerned the boy's possibilities"; that "authors who have survived themselves are as sands of the sea, indeed the exceptions are those who have not"; that every judicious reader skips "the initial part of a biography"—"that in the pedigree of the hero is set forth often with warm fancy, and sometimes at intolerable length." Even those not interested in the commanding figure of Pitt will find this book full of entertainment if they only read Lord Rosebery's comments on men and things. And even as tliey do that Pitt's figure will emerge before their eyes—dramatic, lifelike, and picturesque. This is a most quotable book, of over 500 pages, as we proceed to show. It is essentially a book from which one gets the fullest value by remembering at every turn who the writer is. "Pitt's appearance at his best must have been extremely attractive," writes Lord Rosebery. "Tall and slender, his figure genteel and commanding, he had cultivated all the arts of grace, gesture and dramatic action. 'Graceful in motion,' says his reluctant nephew, 'his eye and countenance would have conveyed liis feelings to the deaf.' All authorities dwell on the magic of his eye. His eyes, said his grand-daughter, were grey, but by cnndle-light seemed black from the intensity of their expression. When he was angry or earnest no one could look him in the face. No one, indeed, seems to have been able to abide the terrors of his glance." Here is a fine, rapid sketch of the life of this attractive personality: "Pitt's life marks itself out with singular distinctness into definite periods. From 1708 to 1734 is the period of obscure youth, on which this volume should throw some light. From 1734 to 1745 is the period of reckless and irresponsible opposition, when he is trying the temper of his weapons. From 1745-1754 he remains in the shadow of subordinate office. From 1754 to 11750, though still partly in office, he emerges as an independent figure of extraordinary and irresistible force. From 1750 to 1701 is the period of power, four years of which are unrivalled in the annals of Great Britain. From 1701 to 1770 is the period of detachment, or attempted detachment, from party. It includes some tenure of office, much obscurity and illness, some actual insanity. And from 1770 till his death in 1778 he appears sometimes to be attempting to make his peace with the party system, having found it impracticable to stand alone; sometimes he seems to be retiring once more into his cell, Few careers can be marked out so clearly; few have such a glamor. But the glamor and the glory are yet to come; they lie beyond this book. Already, indeed, there are confidence and hope, confidence in his vigor, his honesty, and his uprightness; but this is due rather to others than to himself. Everyone else has failed, this may be the man of destiny." And. when he has told his story, Lord Rosebery utters this fine valedictory as he closes the book:

"The path of the statesman rarely skirts the heights; it is rough, rugged, sometimes squalid, as are most of the ro.ids of life. Wo are apt to mako idols, to ignore shadows, and to fancy that we see stars; not too apt, for it is an illuminating worship. But, that being so, let not those who have to scrutinise therefore condemn. All careers have their blots. The best and happiest are those in which the blemishes are obscured by high achievement. That was supremely the ease v ith Pitt. His upward ascent was much like other ascents, neither better nor worse. But when he reached the summit, and acted in full light and freedom, his triumph was so complete that none deem it worth while to scan his previous record. None should care now, were it not a healthy propensity to seek to know as much as possible of the lives of the great men. It is preposterous to depict Pitt as an angel of light. But yet, judged by the standard of his day, the only proper standard to apply, and indeed by the standard of any day, he must be held even in his darkest hours not to have compromised his historical future. Whatever his failings may have been, his countrymen have refused, and rightly refused, to take heed of them. They have refused to s,ee anything but the supreme orator, the triumphant Minister of 17571761, the champion of liberty in later years at nume and in the West. With "Pitt, us with Nelson, his country will not count flaws. What do they matter? How are they visible in the sunlight of achievement? A country must cherish and guard its heroes. We have climbed with him in his path to power. We have seen him petulant, factious, hungry, bitter. And yet all the time we have felt that Hice'was always something in him different in quality from his fellow-poli-ticians whm they aired the same qualities, that there was an imprisoned (spirit within hint struggling for freedom and

scope. At last it !. r/sts its tramnwK lie tosses patronage and intrigue to the old political Shylocks, and inspires the policy of the world. Vanity of vanities! Twenty years after his epoch of glory, three years after his death, Britain has reached the lowest point in her history. But still she is the richer for his life. He bequeaths a tradition, he 'bequeaths a son; and when men think of duty and achievement they look to one or the other. It will be an ill day for their country when either is forgotten."

Pitt's "great and singular power lay in his eloquence," writes Lord Rosebery, and one of the finest passages in the book is that in which the greatest living orator analyses Pitt's oratory and reconstructs for us a fine imaginative picture of the Historic scene when Pitt made a great speeci.

"We can fancy him rising in the House, which subsides at once into silence and eager attention. On not a few faces there will be uneasiness and alarm; on the Ministerial Bench some agitation, for it is there probably that the thunderbolts may fall. His opening is solemn and impressive. Then he warms to his subject. He states his argument. He recalls matters of history and his own personal recollections. Then with an insinuating wave of his arm his voice changes, and he is founl to be drowning some hapless wight with ridicule. Then he seems to ramble a little—he is marking time and collecting himself for what is comiag. Suddenly the rich notes swell into the fullness of a great organ, and the audience find themselves borne into the heights of a sublime burst of eloquence. Then he sinks again into a whisper full of menace, which carries some cruel sarcasm to some quivering heart. Then he is found playing about his subject, pelting snowballs as lie proceeds. If the speech is proceeding to his satisfaction it will last an hour, or perhaps two. Its length will perhaps not improve it, but no one can stir. There may be ineffective, tedious, ohscure passages, but no one knows what may be coming these vapours often precede a glowing sunburst. So all through the speech men sit as though paralysed, though i many are heated with wine. He will not finish without some lofty declamation which may be the culminating splendour of the effort. If any effective replies are made, he will reply again and again, heejlless of order, vehement, truculent, perhaps intemperate. And as he sits down, perhaps with little applause, the tension of nerves, almost agonising in its duration and concentration, snaps like a harpstring, the buzz of animated conversation breaks forth with an cctasy of relief. The audience disperses still under the spell."

Here are one or two of the asides which make this book so attractive: "Heredity counts for much, for much more than we can reckon in these matters. We breed horses and cattle with careful study on that principle; the prize hull and the Derby winner are the result. With mankind we heed it little or not at all. With Pitt it was everything, ot almost everything. What is genius? None can tell. But may it not be the result in character of the conflict of violent straps of heredity, which clash like flint tfld steel, and produce the divine spare!" * ■ *