ABSTRACT
If it be heroism to set out upon a stormy and dangerous enterprise, in the full assurance of victory, and oblivious to the possibility of failure, then at no time of his life was Chatham more truly heroic than when he began his unhappy crusade against the party system. Chatham was to be educated into the belief that the support of the Rockingham party was essential to his success, in the hope that, having learned his lesson, he would abandon his war against all political factions, and, by allying himself with the Rockingham whigs, re-establish the system of party government once again. A ministry, which deserved and enjoyed the confidence of the country, might have afforded to despise such an unworthy triumph; but Chatham’s administration was not in a position to endure with safety even a defeat which reflected so little discredit.
