Mr. Pitt and America's Birth Right

ONE could hardly ask for a better account of William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, eminent public servant, man of militant integrity, upholder of American rights. The author chose a worthy subject, and his treatment is in all respects worthy of his subject. His research is thorough, his history is sound, and his style is easy, rapid, graceful. Mr. Long has the gift of the informed and well-bred raconteur, to a remarkable degree. Perhaps the most striking thing brought out in the book is the small amount ot interest which American affairs had for the general run of Englishmen in Pitt’s time. Outside of the manufacturing and trading classes hardly anyone seems to have known or cared what was going on in the colonies, and to soldiers like Cornwallis and Burgoyne the American revolutionary campaign, which means so much to us, was but a trivial and rather boring incident in a notable career. Since the colonies had a population of something like two million, the British view was hardly flattering to our self-esteem, but there it was, and neither Pitt nor Burke could enlighten it.