h a prosperous
country, as England, under his administration! Let it be objected, that
the agriculture of the country is, by the overbalance of commerce, and
by various and complex causes, in such a state, that the country hangs
as a pensioner for bread on its neighbors, and a bad season uniformly
threatens us with famine. This (it is replied) is owing to our
PROSPERITY--all _prosperous_ nations are in great distress for
food!--still PROSPERITY, still GENERAL PHRASES, uninforced by one
_single image_, one _single fact_ of real national amelioration; of any
one comfort enjoyed, where it was not before enjoyed; of any one class
of society becoming healthier, wiser, or happier. These are _things_,
these are realities; and these Mr. Pitt has neither the imagination to
body forth, nor the sensibility to feel for. Once, indeed, in an evil
hour, intriguing for popularity, he suffered himself to be persuaded to
evince a talent for the Real, the Individual; and he brought in his POOR
BILL!! When we hear the minister's talent for finance so loudly
trumpeted, we turn involuntarily to his POOR BILL--to that acknowledged
abortion--that unanswerable evidence of his ignorance respecting all the
fundamental relations and actions of property, and of the social union!

As his reasonings, even so is his eloquence. One character pervades his
whole being. Words on words, finely arranged, and so dexterously
consequent, that the whole bears the semblance of argument, and still
keeps awake a sense of surprise; but when all is done, nothing
rememberable has been said; no one philosophical remark, no one image,
not even a pointed aphorism. Not a sentence of Mr. Pitt's has ever been
quoted, or formed the favorite phrase of the day--a thing unexampled in
any man of equal reputation. But while he speaks, the effect varies
according to the character of his auditor. The man of no talent is
swallowed up in surprise; and when the speech is ended, he remembers his
feelings, but nothing distinct of that which produced them--(how
opposite an effect to that of nature and genius, from whose works the
idea still remains, when the feeling is passed away--remains to connect
itself with the other feelings, and combine with new impressions!) The
mere man of talent hears him with admiration--the mere man of genius
with contempt--the philosopher neither admires nor contemns, but listens
to him with a deep and solemn interest, tracing in the effects of his
eloquenc