air, the Whig "envoy" to St.
Petersburg in 1791,

"the youth whose daring soul
With _half a mission_ sought the frozen pole."

Pitt's authorship of the lines quoted above is denied by Mr. Lloyd
Sanders in his Introduction to the "Anti-Jacobin" (Methuen, 1904); but
his arguments are not conclusive. Lines 370-80 of "New Morality" are
also said to be by Pitt.

[475] In "Pitt and Napoleon Miscellanies" I shall describe Pitt's work
in the national defence. See an excellent account of the popular
literature of the time in "Napoleon and the Invasion of England," by H.
F. B. Wheeler and A. M. Broadley, i, ch. vii.

CHAPTER XVI

THE IRISH REBELLION

The dark destiny of Ireland, as usual, triumphed.--T. MOORE,
_Mems. of Lord Edward Fitzgerald_.

Various orders of minds ascribe the Irish Rebellion of 1798 to widely
different causes. The ethnologist sees in it the incompatibility of Celt
and Saxon. To the geographer it may yield proofs of Nature's design to
make Ireland a nation. If approached from the religious standpoint, it
will be set down either to Jesuits or to the great schism of Luther. The
historian or jurist may trace its origins back to the long series of
wrongs inflicted by a dominant on a subject race. Fanatical Irishmen see
in it a natural result of the rule of "the base and bloody Saxon"; and
Whig historians ascribe it to Pitt's unworthy treatment of that most
enlightened of Lords-Lieutenant, Earl Fitzwilliam. Passing by the
remoter causes, I must very briefly notice the last topic.

The appointment of the Whig magnate, Fitzwilliam, to the Irish
Viceroyalty in 1794 resulted from the recent accession of the "Old
Whigs," led by the Duke of Portland, to the ministerial ranks. That
union, as we have seen, was a fertile cause of friction. Fitzwilliam was
at first President of the Council; but that post did not satisfy the
nephew and heir of the Marquis of Rockingham. He aspired to the
Viceroyalty at Dublin; and Portland, who, as Home Secretary, supervised
Irish affairs, claimed it for him. Pitt consented, provided that a
suitable appointment could be arranged for the present Viceroy, the Earl
of Westmorland. This was far from easy. Ultimately the position of
Master of the Horse was found for him; but, long before this decision
was formed, Fitzwilliam wrote to the Irish patriot, Grattan, asking him
and his friends, the Ponsonbys, for their support during his
Viceroyal