Recently in my reading, I came across this speech by William Pitt the Elder in reply to Horatio Walpole in the House of Commons in the UK in 1741. I am sure readers will find it interesting in light of recent events in Barbados.
It was during a debate on search warrants for seamen that the famous altercation took place between Mr. William Pitt and Horatio Walpole, in which the latter endeavored to put down the young orator by representing him as having too little experience to justify his discussing such subjects, and charging him with “petulancy of invective,” “pompous diction,” and “theatrical emotion.”
Baba Elombe Mottley
Reply to Horatio Walpole on a charge of Youth delivered in the House of Commons, March 6, 1741
SIR,–The atrocious crime of being a young man, which the honorable gentleman has, with such spirit and decency, charged upon me, I shall neither attempt to palliate nor deny, but content myself with wishing that I may be one of those whose follies may cease with their youth, and not of that number who are ignorant in spite of experience.
Whether youth can be imputed to any man as a reproach, I will not, sir, assume the province of determining; but surely age may become justly contemptible, if the opportunities which it brings have passed away without improvement, and vice appears to prevail when the passions have subsided. Continue reading
