to him. But a splendid corrective came soon afterwards in the crowning
naval victory of Trafalgar. Although the nation's feelings were divided
between joy at the triumph and grief at the death of the illustrious
victor, Pitt's popularity, which had been somewhat uncertain, was
enormously enhanced by the event. The Lord Mayor proposed his health as
"the saviour of Europe."

Pitt's reply was nearly as follows: "I return you many thanks for the
honour you have done me, but Europe is not to be saved by any single
man. England has saved herself by her exertions, and will, I trust, save
Europe by her example." With only these two sentences the minister sat
down. They were the last words that Pitt ever spoke in public.

He was suffering much at this time from gout, and his general health was
undermined by anxiety. In December he journeyed to Bath, and at Bath
there reached him the news of the destruction of his coalition at
Austerlitz. The battle was the cause of his death. He was struck down by
a severe internal malady and he was in a state of extreme debility when
on January 11, 1806, he returned home to the house he had taken on
Putney Heath. It is said that as he passed along to his bedroom, he
observed a map of Europe hanging on the wall, upon which he turned to
his niece and mournfully said: "Roll up that map. It will not be wanted
these ten years."

For a few days the doctors had hopes that he might recover, but on the
22nd it became evident that he could not live for twenty-four hours.
Early in the morning of the 23rd he died.

"At about half-past two," wrote the Hon. James Hamilton Stanhope, who
was at his bedside, "Mr. Pitt ceased moaning, and did not make the