A MEMORIAL TO THE EARL OF CHATHAM [To the Editor
of the SPECTATOR.] you permit us, as you have so often permitted others, to make an appeal in honour of the memory of great Englishmen—an appeal which seems to us worthy of public support.
On May 11th, 1778, 150 years ago, the " Great Commoner," the Earl of Chatham, died at Hayes in Kent, in the house which he had built. Hayes had been his home—during those great years of his Ministry which made him " the first Englishman of his time, and made England the first country in the world." From Hayes he sent Wolfe to Quebec, and the ships of this island to their mastery of the sew. , It was at Hayes, in 1759, that the younger Pitt was born— the Minister who, " placing much dependence on his colleagues, placed still more dependence on himself," and by his policy preserved England in the crisis of the Napoleonic Wars. Under Chatham, as Edmund Burke finely wrote, " for the first time administration and popularity were seen united. He supported our allies, he extended our trade; he raised our reputation and augmented our Dominions." He was the Minister given by the people to the King. Under the younger Pitt England was enabled to save • herself by her exertions and to save England by her example. Under both these statesmen " this island seemed to balance the rest of Europe."
We believe that Englishmen, both here and overseas, still desire to honour the " talents, virtues and services of the elder and the younger Pitt." Yet to neither of them is there any memorial in Hayes, their favourite home. In the registers of the church are the records of the baptism of Chatham's elder sons, John and William, and the marriage of his daughter Hester with Viscount Mahon, afterwards the third Earl Stanhope. The village and the village church are still much as Chatham saw them. The park which he planted with so much care will soon cease to exist ; it is !napped out for building. The fate of the dignified honse is uncertain.
On this 150th anniversary of the death of the _elder Pitt we appeal for donations to raise a sum of £350 to place in Hayes church a suitable memorial to include medallion portraits of father and son. The work is being -entrusted to Mr. Allan G. Wyon, F.R.B.S. Donations may be sent, to either of the hon. treasurers, Lord Stanley. and Mr. R. G. Barnes, Easton House, Hayes, Kent.—We are, Sir, &c.,
CAMDEN, Lord Lieutenant of Kent ; H. PERCY THOMPSON, Rector of Hayes• and Hon. Canon of Rochester ; R. G. BARNES ; MARK COLLET ; FLORA "FARDELL ; A. C. NORMAN ; STANHOPE ; STANLEY.
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