French power in India. In October, 1760, the king died, and was succeeded by George III.; the ministry disagreed on the question of war with Spain, and Pitt resigned in 1761. The next year Newcastle followed him, and Lord Bute became prime minister, to be succeeded after a year by George Grenville. In order to raise money toward defraying the cost of the war, Grenville's stamp-act was passed in 1765, and troubles with the American colonies began. In July of that year the king quarrelled with Grenville, and offered the premiership to Pitt, but he declined it. The Marquis of Rockingham then took the government, and repealed the stamp-act. In the debate on the repeal, Pitt made the famous speech in which he rejoiced that the Americans had resisted. In July, 1766, the Rockingham ministry fell, and Pitt formed a government under the nominal lead of the Duke of Grafton. As he was now much broken in health, he accepted the earldom of Chatham, and passed into the house of lords. For a moment this diminished his popularity, as it was feared that he was surrendering his independence; but the fear soon proved to be groundless. In 1767, while Chatham was very ill, his chancellor of the exchequer, Charles Townshend, passed the act for taxing tea and other American imports, and devoting the revenue thus obtained to establishing a civil list in the colonies. As soon as he heard of this, Chatham tried to dismiss Townshend and have the act repealed; but his illness increased so that he was unable to do anything. Townshend died, and was succeeded by North, and the next year Chatham resigned. His malady had assumed a singular form. When he ceased to suffer from gout, he became melancholy and nearly insane; when, after many weeks, the excruciating pain returned, his mind became clear again, and he was enabled to attend to business. In 1770 Grafton resigned, and Lord North became prime minister. The king, through his influence over North, now had everything as he wished, and pushed on the measures that drove the Americans to armed resistance. In these critical times Chatham was the steadfast and eloquent defender of the liberties of America. In a brilliant speech in 1775, alluding to the Boston port bill and the regulating act, he exclaimed: “You must repeal these acts, and you will repeal them. I pledge myself for it that you will repeal them. I stake my reputation on it. I will consent to be taken for an idiot if they are not finally repealed.” Soon after this he withdrew his eldest son, Lord Pitt, from the army, that he might not be called upon to serve in the wicked war against America. In 1777 he made the famous speech against the employment of Indian auxiliaries and German mercenaries, in which he boldly declared, “If I were an American, as I am an Englishman, so long as a foreign foe remained upon the soil of my country, I would never lay down my arms, never, never, NEVER!” In February, 1778, the ministry repealed the acts that Chatham had denounced three years before; but it was now too late. The Americans were already completing their treaty of alliance with France. The Rockingham whigs were in favor of conceding American independence, but Chatham was not ready for such a step, especially just after a declaration of war with France; it would look too much like humiliating England before the house of Bourbon. Chatham would have withdrawn the British troops from America, and endeavored to bring about something like a federal association between the colonies and the mother country. There was now a strong popular demand for Chatham as prime minister. Men of all parties, beginning with Lord North himself, were desirous that he should take the reins of government and pacify America while punishing France. The task of pacifying America without conceding full independence might probably have proved impracticable; but if there was any man then living who could have undertaken such a task with some hope of success, it was Chatham. The king raved and stormed at the idea of calling him to the head of the government; but the popular pressure was so strong that, but for Chatham's sudden death, a few more weeks would undoubtedly have seen him prime minister. On 7 April the Duke of Richmond moved that Great Britain should recognize the independence of the United States. Chatham had got up from his sick-bed and come to the House of lords to take part in the discussion. While speaking, he fell in a swoon, and was taken to his home at Hayes, where, after lingering several weeks, he died. Although he never came to this country, Lord Chatham must be regarded as one of the foremost figures in American history. It was he that drove the French from America and won for us the valley of the Mississippi. Besides this, he was the first British statesman whose political ideas were of an American type. He was pre-eminently the man of the people. He was the father of parliamentary reform, and the advocate of every liberal measure. Alike in public and in private life, his purity was spotless. He was a man of intense earnestness, and fond of grand and stirring thoughts. These qualities, joined with his commanding presence, his rich and powerful voice, and his warmth of temperament, gave to his eloquence its peculiar character. As a master of the English language he was inferior to Burke and Webster; as a master of debate he could not be compared with Fox or with his own son; yet for power of moving an audience he must probably be counted the greatest orator since Demosthenes; while among those men of action who have shaped the destinies of nations he will rank with the foremost.
CHAUMONOT, Peter Joseph Marie, French
missionary, b. near Chatillon sur Seine in 1611 ; d.
near Quebec, 21 Feb., 1693. His parents were poor
vine-dressers ; but he had an uncle, a priest, who
took charge of him and sent him to school, where
he learned Latin and plain chant ; but he fell
among evil companions, who persuaded him to see
the world in their company, and, with this object
in view, he stole 100 sols (about a dollar) from
his uncle and set out on his travels when he was a
little over ten years of age. His adventures in
France and Italy during the next eight or nine
years are related in his autobiography, Avhich he
was ordered to write by his superiors when over
eighty. Although the aged missionary looks back
on them with horror, they are amusing rather than
criminal. After a varied career as beggar, valet,
and tutor, he was noticed by some Jesuits in Rome,
and sent to their college of Fermo. He afterward
returned to Rome to study theology, and wliile
there he met with a Jesuit " relation " which
treated of Father Brebeuf, and appealed for mis-
sionaries. He felt the force of the appeal as a
personal call, and petitioned his superiors to allow
his studies to be abridged and his ordination to
take place at once, so that he might take passage
in a vessel that was about to sail for Canada from
Dieppe. After a three months' voyage he arrived
in Quebec in August, 1639, and set out for the
Huron country. Journeying for a month, he
reached La'ke Tsirorgi, and began his labors among
the Wyandot tribes, but was not very successful
