NORTH, FREDERIC, Lord, English minister, was h. April 13, 1732, and educated at Eton, and Trinity college, Oxford. His father, baron Guilford, a descendant of Roger, baron North (temp. Henry VIII.), was created an earl in 1752. North entered the house of commons at an early age, was made a lord of the Treasury in 1763, and inherited the tory politics which, in the days of Charles II., had placed his ancestor in the highest ranks of the law and the state. It was his boast in the house of commons. that "since he had had a scat there he had voted against all popular, and in favor of all unpopular measures." On the death of Charles Townshend, in 1769, he was made chancellor of the exchequer and leader of the house of commons, a post for which he was well qualiffld by his eloquence., good humor, wit, and readiness of resource. his folly was, however, one of the immediate causes of the American war. Earl Russell, in his Idfc and Times of C. J. Fox, says that "for .E100,000 a year of revenue George Grenville provoked America, and that for £16,000 a year of revenue lord North lost America." In 1770, he succeeded the duke of Grafton as prime-minister. As a minister he was too ready to surrender his own judgment to that of George III., who, with a narrower understanding, had a stronger will, and was determined to subdue America. North was called by Horace Walpole the ostensible minister; the real minister was the king. North had to
encounter an ardent and powerful opposition, led by C. J. Fox and supported by Burke. It has since been proved that North " so early as 1776 was of opinion that the system he was pursuing would end in ruin to the king and to the country." In 1778, he renounced the right of taxing the colonies. In 1782, it being impossible to carry on the war. with America any longer, North resigned. "A more amiable-man never lived," says earl Russell; "a worse minister never since the revolution governed this country." With North's retirement Caine to an end George M.'s scheme of governing the country by his own will, and ruling the house of commons by court favor and thinly disguised corruption. North was succeeded by the marquis of Rockingham, on whose death lord Shelburne became premier. Fox's dislike of the terms of peace with America led him to enter into a coalition with North, whom he had for so many years inveighed against as a minister without foresight. treacherous, vacillating, and incapable. North and Pox took office under the duke of Portlaod in 1783, hut the coalition destroyed Fox's popu larity, and the Portland administration only lasted a few months. North was afflicted by lilindneQs during the last five years of his lire. lie succeeded to the earldom of Guil ford. in 1790. on the death of his father, and died in Aug. 1792.