THE IMPERIAL MAGAZINE.

NOVEMBER, 1833.

Memoir of

THE RIGHT HON. HENRY RICHARD VASSALL FOX, BARON HOLLAND, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Lord of Trade and Plantations, Recorder of Nottingham, F.R.S. F.S.A. &c. &c. &c.

(With a Portrait.)

THIS nobleman is the nephew of that illustrious statesman, Charles James Fox, and the son of Stephen, the second Lord Holland. His mother was Lady Mary Fitzpatrick, a daughter of the Earl of Upper Ossory. He was born at Winterslow House in Wiltshire, on the 21st of January, 1773. His infancy was distinguished by a singular coincidence of important events. When only twelve months old, the family residence was destroyed by fire, and his preservation was entirely owing to the intrepidity of his mother, who, regardless of her personal safety, and absorbed by solicitude for the safety of her infant, made her way to the nursery, and succeeded in removing him from his perilous situation. Most providentially, this heroic action was the salvation of her own life as well as of that of her child; for it afterwards appeared, that had she sought any other way of escape than that to which her maternal solicitude directed her, she must inevitably have perished. On the first of July of the same year, (1774,) died Henry, the first Lord Holland. His lady survived him but three weeks; and in the following November, the eldest son, the father of the subject of this memoir, expired, after holding his title for four months only. The charge of the early education of his lordship's children was shared with the widow, by her brother Fitzpatrick, Earl of Upper Ossory, and on him the sole charge shortly devolved; for in the year 1778, they were left orphans by the premature death of this accomplished and admirable lady. The subject of this sketch was placed at a small school, whence he was removed to Eton, and there laid the foundation of his future personal and political friendship with Lord Carlisle, Mr. Canning, Mr. Frere, and others. In the year 1790, his lordship quitted Eton for Oxford, where he completed his studies at Christ Church, and on coming of age, two years after, took his seat in the house of lords, though he did not then enter on his parliamentary career. Being furnished by his uncle with letters of introduction to the various courts of Europe, he visited Copenhagen, France, and Switzerland, and was present when Louis the Sixteenth accepted the constitution, after his attempt to leave the country, and his seizure at Varennes.

A long residence in that then distracted country, however, becoming perilous, he returned home, and in March, 1793, again embarked at Portsmouth, on board the Juno frigate, commanded by Captain, afterwards Sir Samuel Hood, for Corunna: the Spanish admiral, Gravina, who fell at Trafalgar, was his fellow-passenger, and ever after a warm friend. With the exception of Catalonia and Valencia, Lord Holland then visited the whole of Spain; making the language, the habits of its various people, its literature, and government, the objects of his study: nor can we reasonably 2D. SERIES, No. 35.-VOL. III.

3 Q

179.-VOL. XV.

doubt that the misrule, disorder, and misery brought before his view, in this and subsequent visits, tended in no slight degree to strengthen him in those principles of freedom, of which he has ever since been the decided friend and advocate. From Spain he passed into Italy, living for some time with Lord Wycombe, the elder brother of the Marquis of Lansdowne, at Florence; and in 1796 returned to England.

In the year 1797, his lordship was united to Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Richard Vassall, Esq., a lady of exquisite beauty, congenial taste, talents, and acquirements; and in consequence of his marriage, he assumed the name of Vassall.

On the 5th of January, 1798, he entered upon his parliamentary career, which he commenced by condemning the policy of the war into which Mr. Pitt had plunged the country. His maiden speech was on the second reading of the assessed tax bill, brought in by ministers avowedly to support the war. Lord Grenville was at that time secretary of state, and Lord Holland replied to his defence of the bill. The country had then been nearly five years engaged in war, during which period, its condition, as his lordship contended, had grown worse and worse. He was therefore decidedly against the concession of any further supplies, until a change of men and measures had taken place. By voting these enormous supplies, he maintained, that they were only adding fuel to the fire which must consume themselves. He accused the ministers of having trepanned the country into war. They had stated that the war was not likely to be of long continuance, nor an expensive contest. At one time the people were told that twenty-five millions would be sufficient, and within half a year half as much more was called for. "Ministers now affect to be greatly alarmed," said his lordship, "lest the French should come upon our coast -God avert the calamity! But will this bill prevent them? Ministers have constantly raised the hopes of the people, and as constantly disappointed them. They went to war, to prevent the opening of the Scheldt!—have they succeeded? They then said a great deal about protecting our allies have they protected any? None of these things are done, although upwards of two hundred millions are expended, and the constitution of the country, in many of its parts, totally subverted. If you would have the vigorous co-operation of the people, restore to them the constitution, and give them a ministry in which they can confide; nothing else can retrieve you. They will not assist a ministry that is appointed by court intrigue; they will not confide in those who are falsely called the representatives of the people, many of whom they know to be nominated by the members of this House, and therefore it is impossible they should speak the voice of the people."

In the final discussion of the same measure, Lord Holland made his second speech, in reply to further observations on the part of Lord Grenville. The latter had charged him with a wish to change the fundamental principles of the British constitution, and with having denounced it as unfit for a rational people to live under. But against this misrepresentation, his lordship protested. "He had not said a word against the constitution. He would never speak ill of the dead! The genuine constitution of England had every excellence that could endear it to a free people; but, alas! it was no longer in existence. What he wanted, and he thought he had expressed himself in clear language, was, to revive that constitution, in its purity; and the means was, not by any innovating course, but by restoring to the people a just representation in parliament. In doing this, he had no hesitation in saying, that the species of reform that

had been accurately described in another place, met with his perfect

concurrence.

Not long after this, the Duke of Bedford moved a vote of censure against the cabinet, which was warmly supported by Lord Holland, who described the calamities and distresses of the country to be so great, and the dangers which menaced it, from the present war, to be of such number and magnitude, that he was astonished how any one could be thoughtless or sanguine enough to imagine that there was the smallest hope of a successful issue, particularly under the administration of those whose rashness first brought the nation into the war, and whose impotence and incapacity had ،، Lofty rendered the war, more than any other, shameful and disastrous. declamation, without energy," said his lordship,-" boastful eloquence, without vigour-cunning, without wisdom-feeble efforts, or temporizing expedients-will never rescue this country from the dangers which press upon it from all parts."

66

Again adverting to the profligate manner in which ministers squandered the public money by subsidizing foreign powers, Lord Holland thus pro

ceeded :

66

My lords! it is impossible but you must remember that, at the beginning of every session, the minister has said to parliament- There are your expenses for the year;' and that, invariably and constantly, the sum has been doubled before the end of the session. This is called ، an unforeseen accident.' Subsidies were unexpectedly found to be necessary, and the ordinary mode of supply was departed from. These were as unlucky and as wrong as all the other parts of the minister's politics; and here too they plead error. But can they say that they were not cautioned against those subsidies ? Were they not forewarned, at the time, that the subsidized powers would desert the alliance, and that the treasures of the nation would be squandered in vain? I will not dwell upon the desertion of Prussia, said his lordship, because this is an old affair, and indeed was from the beginning so obvious, that it must be familiar to your lordships; but Austria was subsidized, and Sardinia was subsidized, to carry on the war. Holland did not desire our interference; but they all began and carried on the war, merely because this country persuaded them to do so."

In 1799, Mr. Pitt and his associates brought in a bill to suspend, for the fourth time, the habeas corpus act, and carried it through both houses by a great majority. Lord Holland, however, after opposing it manfully in its progress through the upper house, finding his efforts unavailing, recurred to his privilege as a peer of parliament, and entered his protest upon the journals. From this period, his lordship was accustomed to take a leading part in discussing all the great questions which came before the house. When the income tax was proposed, he pointed out many imperfections in the bill that was introduced for levying it, particularly its inequalityhereditary fortunes and life annuities being placed exactly on the same footing. He also considered the public faith as in some measure violated by the tax on funded property, and on this occasion quoted an apposite example from the conduct of the French government, which, having agreed to deliver up certain subjects of the crown of Portugal, in compliance with a recent engagement to the court of Madrid, sent off the prisoners to Barcelona, but at the same time despatched a frigate after them, observing, ،، We released you as Spanish allies- -we now capture you as Portuguese.'

It was not long after this, that Mr. Pitt retired from his post; and Mr. Addington being called to the helm, an opportunity was seized of

negociating with France, which terminated in the peace of Amiens, Lord Holland, whose health had suffered greatly from the premature decease of his eldest son, (Stephen Fox,) now embraced the opportunity of retiring to the Continent, and fixed upon Spain for his residence, on account of its salubrious climate. The various changes occasioned by the French revolution, had, at this time, rendered the Continent a new world, which Lord Holland was anxious to explore; and availing himself of the short interval of peace, he proceeded to Paris, where he had shortly the satisfaction of being joined by Mr. Fox, the main object of whose visit was, ostensibly, the collecting of materials for his historical work.

Quitting France, he proceeded to Spain, and, taking up his abode at Barcelona, with Lady Holland and his family, his lordship applied himself with much success to the study of Spanish literature; and on his return home, after a lapse of nearly three years, gave to the public, as the fruit of his studies, the lives of Lopez de Vega, and Guilhen de Castro, "once," as he beautifully expresses it, "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."

When the court of Madrid was threatened to be involved in the calamities of war, Lord Holland hastened to the capital, and, having obtained the necessary passports for leaving the kingdom, he set out on the 14th of November, 1804, in company with Mr. Frere, secretary to the British embassy, and arrived at Lisbon on the 10th of December, where he prolonged his stay during the winter months, and returned to Holland House early in the ensuing spring. His lordship now advocated the political principles he had previously avowed, with increased zeal.

During the Fox and Grenville administration, Lord Holland took office as lord privy seal, and consequently shared the fate of the rest of the members of that short-lived cabinet, which did not long survive the death of Mr. Fox: on his dismissal from office, he returned to the opposition benches. It is hardly necessary to remind the reader, that the Grenville administration was broken up by the "No Popery" cry, his Majesty George the Third having taken alarm at the proposition of Lords Grenville and Howick, to do that for the Catholics of Ireland, which the Duke of Wellington and Mr. Peel have since done!

Lord Holland's liberal principles have always rendered him a great favourite with the Protestant dissenters. Accordingly, he has generally been their organ in the House of Peers. In 1811, when Lord Sidmouth proposed to introduce a bill for the purpose of amending the Toleration Act, he was chosen to present to their Lordships' house, the petition of the three denominations of the London dissenters againstj it. The alarm which was excited throughout the kingdom by the first mention of Lord Sidmouth's proposal to meddle with the rights and privileges of the dissenters, it is not forgotten, produced such a mass of petitions, that both houses of parliament were deluged by them; insomuch, that when Lord Holland rose to address the house on the second reading of the bill, he was literally hemmed in with the piles of parchment committed to his charge, so that it was with no little difficulty he rose from his seat. His lordship's appearance was somewhat ludicrous, being surrounded with petitions; but, though the occasion produced extraordinary excitement, yet he spoke with less velocity, and more distinctness, than is usual with him. The subject was quite congenial to the noble lord's feelings, and his advocacy of the rights of dissenters was singularly eloquent and effective.

The fall of Napoleon gave peace to the continent of Europe; and in the year 1814, the allied sovereigns visited this country. Lord Holland received, through the medium of the Duchess of Oldenburgh, a message from the Emperor Alexander, intimating his wish for an interview. The day appointed for this was the 11th of June, at half-past five o'clock, when his lordship proceeded, in company with Lords Grey, Grenville, and Erskine, to the Pulteney Hotel, Piccadilly, where they were received very graciously by the Emperor, who entered into a long and interesting conversation with them, chiefly on political subjects, as connected with the party in opposition. In the autumn of the same year, Lord Holland visited the continent, and, after spending a few weeks at Paris, went by the Simplon, Milan, Bologna, and Florence, to Rome, where he remained for the winter. At the approach of spring, he proceeded to Naples, where he had an opportunity of seeing much of the unfortunate Murat, who was then on the point of entering upon his desperate enterprise, to the north of Italy. Leaving Naples, his lordship travelled homewards, making his route through Rome, Florence, Venice, and the Tyrol, Munich, and Frankfort, to Brussels.

It was during Lord Holland's residence at Naples, that an incident occurred, which is deserving of mention here. His lordship, who was accompanied on his tour by the Duke of Bedford and Lord Conyngham, was, together with these two noblemen, presented to the King of Naples, (Joachim Murat,) in the latter end of February, 1815. In the course of conversation, his Neapolitan majesty informed them, that the Emperor of Russia, who had no constitution at home, was for giving new ones to every country in Europe, and asked his illustrious visitors what they thought upon the subject. Lord Holland promptly replied, "Constitutions, sire, cannot be given-they must be the growth of time." In the course of a few hours, the Duke San Theodore, who had been previously known to Lord Holland as Neapolitan ambassador at Madrid, called upon him, and stated, that King Joachim had quoted his lordship, as giving him advice not to call his estates, or establish any constitution, although he had already pledged himself so to do. Lord Holland declared that he had been misunderstood, and disclaimed the interpretation which his majesty had put upon his words; and at the duke's request, his lordship drew up, in the form of a letter, his views upon this subject. The original draft fell into the hands of the Austrian government, having been seized upon the person of a gentleman bearing despatches from Joachim to Lord William Bentinck, and was quickly magnified into treasonable importance. In consequence of the gross misstatements which were currently circulated on the occasion, Lord Holland was compelled, in self-defence, to print what he had written, which he did under the title of "A Letter to a Neapolitan Nobleman," and distributed it among his friends. It is singular, that, after sinking into oblivion, this letter should have, very recently, again been publicly referred to, and in a manner likely to create misconception as to its contents. It is a plain and manly application of the principles of a freeman to his conception of the constitutional wants of a foreign state groaning under feudal institutions, bearing wholly on the formation of new political regulations, and without the slightest reference to the correction of long-established abuses in any existing kingdom. But the whole of this curious affair affords striking proof, if any, indeed, were wanting, of the distance at which the continental governments were then left by the people of England, in point of liberal principles and political science in general.