CLARENDON, GEORGE WILLIAM FREDERICK VILLIERS, 4TH EARL OF (in the Villiers line) (1800-187o), British diplomatist and statesman, the eldest son of George Vil liers, who was the youngest son of the 1st earl of the new creation, and Theresa, only daughter of the first Lord Boringdon, was born in London on Jan. 12, i800. He was educated at Christ's hospital and St. John's college, Cambridge, and became an attache at the British embassy in St. Petersburg in 182o, where he remained until he was appointed a commissioner of customs in 1823, an office he held until his appointment as British minister at Madrid in 1833. At Madrid he distinguished himself by the skill with which he conducted the difficult negotiations arising out of the Spanish Succession question (see SPAIN : History) in which he supported the Liberal Government of Isabella II. In 1838 his services were rewarded by the G. C. B. and in the same year he succeeded his uncle as 4th earl ; he married Katherine, daughter of the first earl of Verulam, in 1839. In Lord Melbourne's Admin istration (184o-1841) Lord Clarendon held office as lord privy seal and chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster; but he disagreed with Palmerston's Egyptian and French policy. For five years Clarendon formed one of the opposition to Peel's Government, but when Russell became prime minister in 1846, Clarendon en tered the Cabinet as president of the Board of Trade. He twice refused the viceroyalty of India and once the governor-general ship of Canada, and it was with very great reluctance that at Rus sell's urgent request he undertook in 1847 the lord-lieutenancy of Ireland. He remained in Ireland until 1852 and guided that coun try with great skill and sympathy through one of the worst crises in her history (see IRELAND: History) . On the formation of Aberdeen's Coalition Ministry in 1853 Clarendon attained his ambition by becoming secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. Almost from the outset of his tenure of office he found himself confronted with a renewed outbreak of the old Turko-Russian trouble in the Near East that led to the Crimean War (see ENGLAND : History) and the Congress of Paris. Clarendon's diplo macy was directed to securing peace on an equable basis and to forcing Austria either to maintain her neutrality or participate actively in the war on the Allied side. His influence over the emperor Napoleon was of incalculable value to the Allies in keep ing that unreliable monarch faithful to the alliance, and he won for himself an international prestige by his skilful handling of the congress. Through his support Cavour was enabled to bring the Italian question before Europe, and he was personally respon sible for the greatest work accomplished by the congress, the Declaration laying down the rules of maritime warfare. Personal rivalry between Clarendon and Lord John Russell led to the exclusion of the former from the reconstituted Ministry of 1859, and it was not until 1864 that he again held office, this time as chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster. On Palmerston's death in 1865 Clarendon once more returned to the Foreign Office, where he remained until his death on June 27, 187o.
The three outstanding achievements of Clarendon's life were his handling of the Spanish Succession question, his conduct of negotiations during the Crimean War and his services to inter national law in obtaining the consent of the Congress of Paris to the Maritime Declaration. His final tenure of the Foreign Office was distinguished by his able conduct of affairs during the criti cal days of the Schleswig-Holstein question, the Austro-Prussian war of 1866, the Alabama question and the troubled days preced ing the outbreak of the war between France and Prussia which he feared but did not live to see. Singularly handsome, a man of great courtesy and distinction of manner, cultivated and witty, Claren don can hardly be reckoned among the greatest of English states men. Yet that his was no mean ability is revealed by Bismarck's striking statement that had Clarendon lived, "he would have pre vented the war" (i.e., the Franco-Prussian War) and by so doing destroyed Bismarck's life work.