the only species of wealth which he
ever dreamed of economizing.

{223}

CHAPTER LVII.

FOX AND PITT.

[Sidenote: 1781--Fall of the Lord North Administration]

Pitt entered public life the inheritor of a great name, the transmitter
of a great policy, at a time when the country was in difficulty and the
Government in danger. In the January of 1781 North was still in power,
was still supported by the King, had still some poor shreds of hope that
something, anything might happen to bring England well out of the
struggle with America. In the November of the same year North reeled to
his fall with the news of the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown. In
those ten months Pitt had already made himself a name in the House of
Commons. He was no longer merely the son of Pitt; he was Pitt. He had
attached himself to an Opposition that was studded with splendid names,
and had proved that his presence added to its lustre. The heroes and
leaders of Opposition at Westminster welcomed him to their ranks with a
generous admiration and enthusiasm. Fox, ever ready to applaud possible
genius, soon pronounced him to be one of the first men in Parliament.
Burke hailed him, not as a chip of the old block, but as the old block
itself. The praises of Burke and of Fox were great, but they were not
undeserved. When the Ministry of Lord North fell into the dust, when the
King was compelled to accept the return of the Whigs to office, Pitt had
already gained a position which entitled him in his own eyes not to
accept office but to refuse it.

Rockingham formed a Ministry for the second time. The new Ministry was
formed of an alliance between the two armies of the Rockingham Whigs and
the Shelburne Whigs. Rockingham represented the political principles
that dated from the days of Walpole. {224} Shelburne represented, or
misrepresented, the principles that dated from the days of Chatham. The
King would very much have preferred to take Shelburne without Rockingham,
but even the King had to recognize that it was impossible to gratify his
preference. Even if Shelburne had been a much better leader than he was
he had not the following which would entitle him to form a Ministry on
his own account. And Shelburne was by no means a good leader. To the
Liberal politician of to-day Shelburne seems a much more desirable and
admirable statesman than Rockingham. Most of his political ideas were in
advance of his time, and his personal