GREY, Henry George, 3n EARL. English statesman: b. Howick, Northumberland, 28 Dec. 1802; d. 9 Oct. 1894. He was educated at the University of Cambridge and after 1807 was known as Viscount Howick. He was elected to Parliament in 1826 as a Whig, sitting for Northumberland after 1831. In 1830 he became undersecretary for the colonies in hit father's Cabinet. He was one of the leaders of the colonial reformers•and in 1834 resigned be cause slave emancipation was made gradual in stead of immediate in the British West India colonies. When the Melbourne ministry came into power in 1835 he was given the portfolio of Secretary of War.. He inaugurated several administrative reforms, particularly in con nection with the Indian troops. He resigned his Cabinet post in 1839, because of dissatis faction with the views of his colleagues on colonial questions. About 1841 he became a pronounced advocate of a free trade policy and his speeches and writings on this question did much to bring the Whigs to accept his policy. Becoming third Earl Grey in 1845 he took his seat in the Lords that year, and soon became Whig leader there. Lord John Russell offered Grey a Cabinet post in 1845 but the latter ob jected to Palmerston as a colleague. Within a
few months, however, he became colonial secretary in a Cabinet which included 'Lord Palmerston. His colonial administration was most progressive; he first recognized the right of the colonies to be governed for their own benefit rather than in the interest of the home land; to this end he granted them large measures of self-government, and introduced free trade measures between them and Great Britain and Ireland. Other projects of his in the colonies were less successful and in 1852 he resigned with his colleagues. After this he never held office, but he closely followed all public questions and was a vigilant critic of the measures of both great parties. He opposed Gladstone's Home Rule policy. His published works include 'The Colonial Policy of Lord John Russell's Administration' (2 vols., 1853); Parliamentary tyovernment ( 1858) 'Free Trade with France' (1881) ; 'Ireland: The Causes of its Present Position' (1.1.:•:); 'The Commercial Policy of British. Colonies and the McKinley Tariff) (1892). He edited 'Cor IVdence 1867) Charles,- Second Earl Grey with Willi) .