William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham
Overview
 
William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham PC (15 November 1708 – 11 May 1778) was a British
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...

 Whig
British Whig Party
The Whigs were a party in the Parliament of England, Parliament of Great Britain, and Parliament of the United Kingdom, who contested power with the rival Tories from the 1680s to the 1850s. The Whigs' origin lay in constitutional monarchism and opposition to absolute rule...

 statesman who led Britain during the Seven Years' War
Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War was a global military war between 1756 and 1763, involving most of the great powers of the time and affecting Europe, North America, Central America, the West African coast, India, and the Philippines...

 (known as the French and Indian War
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...

 in the United States). He again led the country (holding the official title of Lord Privy Seal
Lord Privy Seal
The Lord Privy Seal is the fifth of the Great Officers of State in the United Kingdom, ranking beneath the Lord President of the Council and above the Lord Great Chamberlain. The office is one of the traditional sinecure offices of state...

) between 1766-68.

Pitt is best known as the wartime political leader of Britain in the Seven Years War, especially for his single-minded devotion to victory over France.
Quotations

It must cut up Liberty by the root and poison the Fountain of Publick Security; and who that has an English heart can ever be weary of asserting Liberty?

Denouncing the patronage system (February, 1740)

My Lord, I am sure I can save this country, and no one else can.

Said to the William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire|Duke of Devonshire in 1756 (Horace Walpole, Memoirs of King George II (Yale University Press, 1985), III, p. 1.).

While we had France for an enemy, Germany was the scene to employ and baffle her arms.

Speech in the House of Commons (August, 1762).

The poorest man may in his cottage bid defiance to all the forces of the Crown. It may be frail — its roof may shake — the wind may blow through it — the storm may enter — the rain may enter — but the King of England cannot enter — all his force dares not cross the threshold of the ruined tenement!

Speech on the Excise Bill, House of Commons (March 1763)

There are many things a parliament cannot do. It cannot make itself executive, nor dispose of offices which belong to the crown. It cannot take any man's property, even that of the meanest cottager, as in the case of enclosures, without his being heard.

Speech in the House of Commons (1766)

 
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