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purpose of increasing the influence of ministers in that assembly. Soon afterwards, a measure for the abolition of the slave trade, which had passed the commons, was rejected by the lords, on his moving that the subject should be properly investigated during the next session. In the course of the debate on Lord Grenville's unsuccessful motion, in 1805, for considering the petition of the Roman catholics of Ireland, Lord Hawkesbury declared it to be his opinion, that, as long as the catholics refused to take the oath of supremacy, they ought to be excluded from political power.

On the death of Pitt, he was offered the premiership; which, however, he declined, in consequence of the powerful coalition of the Fox and Grenville parties. During the short-lived administration of All the Talents which ensued, he held no office; but, on its dismissal, he returned to his former post, after having again refused to place himself at the head of the cabinet. In December, 1808, he succeeded to the earldom of Liverpool; and, on the assassination of Spencer Perceval, in 1812, he consented, at the Prince Regent's special request, to accept of the vacant premiership.

In the early part of his administration, he resisted a motion in favour of the catholics, but supported a concession to the dissenters; and, on account of some serious outrages which had been committed in the manufacturing districts, procured an enactment, by which frame-breaking was declared a capital felony. The success of the British arms in Spain, the disasters of Buonaparte in Russia, the subsequent march of the allies to Paris, the termination of the war with America, and the victory of Waterloo, rendered him for some time popular; but public distress, the consequence of a long and arduous war, at length produced discontent, and violent clamours and outrages ensued; to repress which, the habeas corpus act was suspended, bills were introduced and carried through both houses, for the suppression of seditious meetings, and the extinction of small political publications, and other severe measures, were adopted, that exposed the ministers to indignant reproach.

On the death of George the Third, office, pro formâ, and received them Lord Liverpool resigned his seals of again, with an assurance of royal confidence and esteem, from the new monarch. His previous unpopularity was soon afterwards much increased by the introduction, to the house of against Queen Caroline; of whose guilt, lords, of a bill of pains and penalties he appears to have felt a full conviction; but it does not seem to have occurred to him, that the king, by his own libertine habits, had deprived himself of any just claim to a divorce. Perceiving, at length, that he could not, at once morally and safely, append any real punishment to his proposed enactment, he submitted to a virtual defeat, by withdrawing the bill. Still, in justice to Lord Liverpool, it is fair inexpediency of his proceedings on to submit, that, however glaring the this occasion appear to have been, it would be exceedingly difficult to point out what course he ought to have adopted.

During the remainder of his life, Lord Liverpool rendered himself conspicuous, principally by his opposition to the more important claims of the catholics; although he supported two bills in their favour,-the one enabling them to vote in the election of members of parliament, and the other qualifying them to act as magistrates or subordinate revenue officers. He also carried his principles of toleramarriage bill; which, however, was tion so far as to favour the unitarian ultimately rejected. He appeared, for the last time, in the house of lords, on the 16th of February, 1827, when he supported an address for conferring a provision suitable to their rank on the Duke and Duchess of Clarence. The next morning, after having breakfasted alone in his library, he was found, by paralytic fit. his servant, stretched on the floor in a He was shortly afterwood, where he lingered in a state of wards removed to his seat at Combe mental imbecility until his death, which took place on the 4th of December, Theodosia, a daughter of Lord Bristol, 1828. He was twice married: first, to the bishop of Derry; and, secondly, to Miss Chester, the daughter of a clergyman; but had no issue.

In personal appearance, Lord Liverpool was plain, but dignified: his features have become familiar to the public, by the various portraits painted of him by Lawrence, Young, Hoppner, and others. In private life, he was pious, upright, charitable, and unostentatious. Though of a newly-raised family, he was in policy, but not in manners, a confirmed aristocrat. The faults of his public career were entirely those of judgment; for, though often wrong, it is evident that he never erred against conviction. His talents were far inferior to his virtues; and he is entitled to respect, but not to admiration. In honesty as a minister, he has never been surpassed: in prejudices, he has rarely been equalled. No man ever opposed, at once so strenuously and so conscientiously, the advance of liberal opinions: he was adverse to catholic emancipation, parliamentary reform, the immediate manumission of slaves in the West India islands, and the freedom of political or religious discussion.

With him originated the bill for the erection of an additional number of edifices for public worship, which he thought would have the most beneficial effect on the religion and morality of the country: but, in other respects, he was a determined foe to addition or change; regarding improvement as innovation, the remedy of old abuses as an incitement to popular inquiry, and the church and state, as he found it, perfectly faultless, and invulnerable to reproach. As an orator, he was plain, but nervous; and, in debate, he invariably treated the supporters of those measures, to which he was most inimical, with courtesy and respect. Cyril Jackson told his father, when he quitted Oxford, that he would never make a great statesman; and a talented cotemporary (the Reverend George Croly, in his Life of George the Fourth) has said of him, that he thought his business amply done, if the current year passed on without a war, a rebellion, or a national bankruptcy.

HENRY RICHARD VASSALL, LORD HOLLAND. HENRY RICHARD, the only son of Stephen Fox, Lord Holland, was born on the 23rd of November, 1773, and succeeded his father in title and estate at the latter end of the following year. He commenced his education at Eton, and completed it at Christchurch college, Oxford; where he took the degree of M. A., in 1792.

During the early part of the French revolution he visited France, and thence proceeded to Italy. While abroad, he formed an intimacy with the wife of Sir Godfrey Webster; in consequence of which, the latter brought an action against him, and obtained damages to the amount of £6,000. Lady Webster being subsequently divorced, Lord Holland married her, and, on that occasion, took, by royal sign manual, the surname of Vassall.

He commenced his parliamentary career by protesting against the assessed tax bill, and soon became a formidable opponent to the administration. the peace of Amiens he visited Spain,

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where he remained with his family for nearly three years; during which period he applied himself, with much success, to the study of Spanish literature. On his return to England, he advocated the political principles he had previously avowed, with increased zeal; and, after having rendered himself particularly conspicuous during the prosecution of Lord Melville, he took office, as lord privy seal, in the brief administration of All the Talents; on the dismissal of which, he returned to the opposition benches. In 1817, he brought forward a motion, which was negatived by a large majority, for affording more liberty and harmless comforts" Napoleon Buonaparte; against whose detention at St. Helena, he had, on a former occasion, protested, as being a violation of national faith. He has often distinguished himself by his powerful advocacy of catholic emancipation, parliamentary reform, and the abolition of the test and corporation acts. As an orator, he is energetic,

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copious, and effective, although his utterance is imperfect, and his gesticulation ungraceful. He patronizes men of letters, and enjoys considerable reputation as an author. He has published a letter to Dr. Shuttleworth, in favour of the catholic claims; edited the historical fragment of his uncle, Charles James Fox, and written the lives of

Guillen de Castro, and Lope de Vega, "once," as he felicitously observes, "the pride and glory of Spaniards, who, in their literary, as in their political achievements, have, by a singular fatality, discovered regions, and opened mines, to benefit their neighbours and their rivals, and to enrich every nation of Europe but their own."

HENRY FITZMAURICE PETTY, MARQUESS OF

LANSDOWNE.

LORD HENRY PETTY, a younger son of the celebrated Earl of Shelburne, afterwards Marquess of Lansdowne, by his second wife, Louisa Fitzpatrick, a daughter of the Earl of Upper Ossory, was born on the 2nd of July, 1780. After having passed some time at Westminster school, he was removed to Edinburgh, where he resided, with other young noblemen, under the roof of Professor Dugald Stewart; and became initiated in the science of debate, by attending the disputative meetings of the Speculative Society. He concluded his education at Trinity college, Cambridge; and, on attaining his majority, became member of parliament for Calne. He seldom engaged in those violent debates which were occasioned by the French revolution; but chiefly devoted his attention to the affairs of Ireland. At this early period of his career, Fox, on account of his talents, compared him to Pitt, when of the same age. On the death of the latter, Lord Henry succeeded to the chancellorship of the exchequer, and also became representative of the university of Cambridge. He did not remain long enough in office to display much of that talent for finance, which he was supposed by his friends to possess, and soon ceased to represent the university; but continued in parliament as member for Camelford.

On the death of his elder brother without issue, in 1809, he succeeded to the family titles and estates. He abetted the party of the Prince of Wales, during the debates on the regency bill; and, on the assassination of

Mr. Perceval, some probability appeared to exist of his going into office with his party, whose conditions, however, were so dictatorial, that the regent rejected them. Although hostile to the Liverpool cabinet, he was far from a virulent, and not even an active, opponent to its measures. In 1814, he moved for an address to the Prince Regent, which was adopted without a division, declaratory of the deep regret felt by the house that the humane exertions of this country for the abolition of the slave trade had not been attended with complete success; and praying that means might be taken more fully to effectuate the merciful intentions of the legislature.

In the year 1824, he introduced a motion for the immediate recognition of the South American states. "Let me ask noble lords, (thus he argued on this occasion) if they can contemplate any course of events by which the independence of the colonies can be finally prevented? Can any man rationally expect that the government of old Spain, situated as it now is, and as it must be, while it is occupied by a French army, and situated as it must be, long after that French army has retired, can exert efforts at all adequate, even to the appearance of a successful attempt, to bring under forcible subjection the inhabitants of those remote and boundless countries, when they have once tasted the cup of liberty, and become conscious of their greatness? Can we suppose it possible that the progress of civilization, and everything proud and great connected with

it, in those countries, can be arrested? As well might we expect that the current of the gulph stream should cease to carry the warm waters of the tropics forward towards its northern shores, as suppose that the full tide of civilization and independence can be prevented from extending itself from mountain to mountain, and from shore to shore, of that new world. The time was, when Spain had the power to root up the vineyards of Mexico, that the inhabitants might rely on the mother country for wine:-the time, indeed, was, when old Spain could make it felony to carry roads from the inland to the sea shore of that country, lest the inhabitants should have communications which their rulers might not approve. But those times are now no more: the regeneration of that country must continue, and your lordships are invited to assist in its perfection."

In 1827, he accepted a seat in the

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cabinet, and soon afterwards obtained the seals of the home department. On the death of Canning, the marquess, displeased with the nomination of Herries to the chancellorship of the exchequer, and disappointed in an attempt to introduce Lord Holland into the cabinet, waited upon the king to resign the seals of his office; but, on finding that Herries had been recommended by Lord Goderich, (then first lord of the treasury,) to the king, the marquess consented to retain his post; which, however, he relinquished early in 1828.

His temper is placid, his knowledge extensive, and his delivery pleasing. He patronizes literature and the arts; is an uniform supporter of liberal measures; and, in private life, displays great moral purity, united with mild and courteous manners. He has issue by the marchioness, who is his cousin, being a daughter of the second Earl of Ilchester.

FREDERICK JOHN ROBINSON, VISCOUNT GODERICH.

THIS statesman, son of Thomas, second Lord Grantham, was born on the 30th of October, 1782; and completed his education at St. John's college, Cambridge, where, in compliment to his rank, he obtained the honorary degree of M. A. In 1807, he procured a seat in the house of commons, for the borough of Rippon, which he represented in several succeeding parliaments. At the commencement of his public career, he was an avowed anticatholic, and a staunch supporter of the landed interest; but he did not attract much notice until 1812, when, in consequence of the complete accordance of his principles with those of the party in power, he was nominated a lord of the treasury. He subsequently became vice-president of the board of trade; and, on the 1st of March, 1815, brought forward the obnoxious corn-bill, which, in spite of a most determined opposition, was carried through its last stage in the house of commons on the 10th of the same month. Terrific riots ensued; during which, the infuriated populace attacked his residence, and destroyed

VOL. I.

the principal part of his furniture and valuable paintings. On the following night, he placed a guard of soldiers in his house, who, on a repetition of the violence displayed on the preceding evening being attempted, fired on the mob, of whom they killed two, and wounded many. The affair being afterwards mentioned in the house of commons, he justified himself, as having merely taken such precautions as were in his power for the defence of his property; which, however, it was asserted, in reply, had, by the preceding attack, been rendered scarcely worth protecting.

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Early in 1823, on the recommendation of Lord Liverpool, he was appointed chancellor of the exchequer. In 1824, he proposed, and carried, an abatement of the window tax, and of the duties on leather and rum; abolition of stamps on law proceedings; and a reduction of the four per cents to three and a half. On the formation of the Canning ministry, in 1827, he became secretary of state for the colonies; and, on the 28th of April, in that year, he was raised to the peerage, by the title

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of Viscount Goderich, of Nocton, in the County of Lincoln, for the purpose of acting as ministerial leader in the house of lords. The death of Canning soon afterwards took place, and Lord Goderich succeeded to the premiership; which, however, he had neither political strength nor talent enough to hold, against the powerful opposition of the Duke of Wellington and his friends, by whom he was speedily compelled to retire from office.

Lord Goderich is urbane and candid to his political opponents, honest in his intentions, and well skilled in the practical duties of office; but his knowledge is not extensive, neither is his disposition

firm, nor his intellect exalted. At the commencement of his parliamentary career, his oratory was at once puerile and pedantic; he has, however, long enjoyed the reputation of being a respectable speaker, although his arguments are frequently trite, and his delivery unimpressive. Adopting the principles of Liverpool and Castlereagh, his opinions, during the ascendancy of those statesmen, were neither liberal nor tolerant; but he subsequently became a convert, in some degree, to the more enlightened policy of Canning.

At the latter end of 1824, he was united to Lady Sarah Hobard, by whom he has had three children.

SIR ROBERT PEEL.

ROBERT, the eldest son of Sir Robert Peel, Bart., the founder of his family, was born on the 6th of February, 1788. He acquired the rudiments of education under the personal superintendance of his father; who, among other lessons of great practical utility, impressed upon him the necessity of always attending to the business in hand, and of doing it in earnest. At a proper age, he was sent to Harrow, where he was cotemporary with Byron, who says of him, in a document, published in his valuable Life by Moore:-" Peel, the orator and statesman, (that was, or is, or is to be,) was my form-fellow, and we were both at the top of our remove (a public school phrase). We were on good terms, but his brother was my intimate friend. There were always great hopes of Peel amongst us all, masters and scholars,-and he has not disappointed them. As a scholar, he was greatly my superior; as a declaimer and actor, I was reckoned at least his equal; as a school-boy, out of school, I was always in scrapes, and he never; and, in school, he always knew his lesson, and I rarely; but when I knew it, I knew it nearly as well. In general information, history, &c. &c. I think I was his superior."

On quitting Harrow, he became a gentleman-commoner of Christchurch college, Oxford, where he took a

degree, with considerable distinction. In 1809, he was returned to parliament as member for Cashel; and early in 1810, he seconded, in rather a neat speech, the motion for an address, in reply to the king's speech on opening the session. In the course of the same year, he was appointed under secretary of state for the colonial department; and, on the 12th of September, 1812, he became chief secretary for Ireland; in which capacity, on the 23rd of January, 1814, he obtained leave to bring in a bill for the better execution of the laws in Ireland; for which, however, after it had passed through its first stages, he proposed to substitute a revival of the insurrection act. At the latter part of the same year, he supported a measure for improving the Irish peace preservation act; and, in April, 1816, he strenuously opposed Sir John Newport's motion for an address to the prince regent, censuring the conduct of ministers, with regard to the troubles in Ireland; and, by way of amendment, proposed another, which, after a warm debate, was carried, "deploring the circumstances that rendered it necessary to have twentyfive thousand soldiers in that kingdom, and entreating, that an account of the disturbances there should be laid before the house."

In 1817, he brought forward a bill

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