GREY, CHARLES, Earl. K.G., head of the government which carried the reform bill, was b. Mar. 13, 1764, at Fallowden, near Alnwick. The Greys arc a Northumberland family of great antiquity, celebrated for military achievements, and first ennobled in the time of Edward IV. The first Aqui was sir-0. Grey, t.1.3i, a distinguished so1dier, who held commands in the first American war, and in the war against the French republic.
His son was sent to Eton, and thence to Cambridge. He then visited the continent; and in his 22d year entered the house of commons as 5I.P. for his native county. He became a follower of Mr. Fox, and his maiden speech was in opposition to the address of thanks to the king for negotiating the commercial treaty with France. He soon obtained a leading position in the house of commons, and was one of the managers of the impeachment of Warren Hastings. He was also one of the founders of the society of friends of the people. In 1793 he was selected to present a petition from this society, in which the defects and abuses of the representative system were forcibly exposed. He was outvoted on this occasion, and again in 1797. 1f>,1799 he opposed the proposal for the Irish union, but recommended the abolition of forty rotten boroughs in Ireland as a means of securing the independence of Irish members. When the wing admin istration of lord Grenville came into office in 1806, Grey, now lord Howick, became first lord of the admiralty. Mr. Fox died in Sept., and was succeeded by Grey as secretary of state for foreign affairs, and leader of the house of commons. The cabinet was broken up in 1807, hut not before it had carried the abolition of the slave trade, and the enlistment of soldiers for a limited period instead of for life. It was unfortunate, both for Grey and the whigs, that he was, by the decease of his father in 1807, removed from the house of commons, where lie might have led the opposition to the upper house, where his advocacy of measures of progress and amendment found little response. Grey and lord Grenville, as the leaders of the whig opposition, were more than once desired by the prince of Wales, after he became regent, to coalesce with the tory ministry, but these overtures were firmly rejected. Grey actively opposed the bill of pains and penalties against queen Caroline. During the long period in which lie remained in opposition, from 1807 to 1830, he gave a strenuous support to fie abolbion of religious tests, the removal of Roman Catholic disabilities, and the amelioration of the criminal code. The year 1830 was a period of great political disorder and discon tent. The French revolution had familiarized the bolder and more ardent spirits with the idea of resistance to the government. Nightly conflagrations in the agricultural districts alarmed the timid. When parliament met in Nov. Grey gave warning of the approaching hurricane, and again urged the adoption of measures of temperate reform, It was in answer to this speech that the duke of Wellington made his memorable declar ation against reform, and expressed his admiration of the existing system of representa tion. This was the death-blow to the duke's government. Being outvoted on a motion of sir II. Parnell on the civil list, the cabinet resigned, and William IV. sent for Grey, who formed a whig government, of which be was of course premier. The whigs set to work in good earnest to clear away the gross abuses and nests of corruption which had accumulated during nearly seventy years of toryism; above all, a great com prehensive, and searching measure of parliamentary reform was prepared by a sub committee of the cabinet, consisting of lord J. Russell, lord Durham, lord Duncannon,
and sir J. Graham. The bill was brought into the house of commons, Mar. 1, 1831, by lord J. Russell, and electrified the nation. It was, however, fiercely opposed in both houses. General Gascoyne carried a resolution against reducing the number of u.P.'s. Grey thereupon advised the king to dissolve parliament. " The bill, the whole bill, and nothing but the bill," was the watchword at the elections; and when the new parlia ment met, the bill was carried through the lower house by large majorities. The second reading was moved by Grey in the house of lords, Oct. 3, 1831. After five nights the bill was thrown out by 199 votes against 158. The reply of the house of commons was an immediate vote of confidence in the ministers. The king prorogued parliament in order that after the shortest possible interval, the bill might be again introduced. Riots took place at Nottingham, Derby, and Bristol. At Birmingham 150,000 men threat ened to march upon London. The metropolis was in a fever of excitement. A second reform bill passed the house of commons, which also passed a second reading in the house of lords, the tories being determined to mutilate it in committee. Lord Lyndhurst moved the postponement of the disfranchising clauses, and the whigs being beaten, Grey resorted to the extreme remedy of demanding from the king a new' and large creation of peers. The king refused his consent, and Grey resigned. The popular excitement increased. The king sent for the duke of Wellington, but sir Robert Peel refusing to join the duke in the attempt to form a government, Grey again returned to office, armed with the power of creating as many peers as might be necessary to secure the safety of the bill. On June 4, 1832, the reform bill passed the house of lords, and Grey's friends crowded round him to congratulate him on having crowned his long. honorable, and consistent public career by a measure of such immense advantage and importance. Grey took office on the principles of peace, retrenchment, and reform. His government, however. lost a good deal of its popularity in England by his defer ence to the hostility of the lords, and Ids attempt to conciliate his opponents by a division of patronage. In Ireland Mr. Stanley's quarrels with Mr. O'Connell and the Irish repeaters also tended to weaken the government. Many important measures were. however, passed—the measure for national education in Ireland, the Irish church temporalities bill, and the bill for abolishing slavery in the West Indies. In Dec., 1834. the Grey ministry fell to pieces on the Irish coercion act. Greyretired from the post of first lord of theatworarrwith the 'respect and- esteem of the A more honorable man nester" tixiSted, A moral dignity stamped his 'every action, and over Ids truthfulness no cloud ever passed. He passed the last ten years of his life in compara tive retirement, and died at his family mansion, Howick house, July 17, 1845. His personal appearance was stately and dignified, his gestures were animated, and his tones lofty and sonorous. He left eight sons and four daughters to lament the loss of a most revered parent.