* LANSDOWNE, HENRY PETTY F1TZ-MAURICE, TUIRD MAR QUIS OF, KG., is the second, but only surviving eon of the first Marquis, better known as the Earl of Shelburne, and was born July 2, 1780. Lord Henry l'etty was sent to Westminster School; thence he was removed about the year 1795 to Edinburgh, where he was placed under the care and tuition of Dugald Stewart, in whose society his youthful mind became more deeply imbued than ever with liberal and enlightened views on history, politics, and philosophy. Here he strengthened his love not merely of constitutional government and freedom, but of modern literature and scientific pursuits—a taste which has added lustre to his social and private life, and has rendered his house for nearly half a century the resort and the home of the best literary society of the age. In the Speculative Society of the Northern Metropolis, in which Brougham, Homer, Jeffrey, Sidney Smith, and other liberal politicians of that day first sharpened their oratorical weapons, Lord Henry Petty also practised his skill in debate : and he is said to have been stamped from that early time, among his contem poraries, with the promise of becoming an able statesman and parliamentary leader. Ilaving finished his course of studies at Edin burgh, he removed to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated M.A. in 1801. Having travelled for a few mouths upon the Continent in company with Monsieur Dupont, he prepared to enter upon public life, and shortly after attaining his majority he was returned to Parlia ment by the influence of his father as member for the borough of Caine in Wiltshire. In the House of Commons some time elapsed before he attempted to distinguish himself as a debater. In 1804 however he made his first parliamentary speech upon an Irish question. The Tory party headed by Mr. Pitt were in power at the time, and under the operation of the Bank Restriction Act the Irish people were threatened with a serious calamity in consequence of the excessive issue of paper-money by the private banks of the country. Lord Henry Petty's speech on this occasion, delivered in opposition to the views of the ministry, was remarkable for the clearness and soundness of the views which he expressed upon the general economic bearings of the currency question, and the speaker unconsciously offered a tribute of respect to the memory of Lis ancestor Sir William Petty, who has been justly styled the father' of the science of political economy in this country. In the following year Lord Henry Petty confirmed his reputation as a parliamentary debater by his speech on the case of Lord Melville. In deference to the claims of party and private friend ship, Mr. Pitt defended his colleague with great earnestness from the charge of official corruption, and he was answered with proportionate severity by Lord Henry Petty, whose honest and generous nature instinctively shrank from even the suspicion of political dishonesty or private peculation. The Prime Minister died within the year, and the Tory party being broken up by their leader's death, the Whigs came into office under Grenville and Fox, who nominated Lord Henry l'etty Chancellor of the Exchequer in the place of Pitt, whom he also suc ceeded in the representation of the University of Cambridge. He now became a frequent speaker, more especially on subjects connected with finance; and had his party remained in office, he would probably have attained reputation ne a minister. But the duration of Lord Grenville's ministry was scarcely sufficient to test Lord Henry Petty's abilities as a financier; it was long enough however to satisfy the public that he was a statesman of no ordinary promise, and that he might fairly look forward hereafter to the filling of a higher position in the adwitlistra tiou of the country. This promise, it is true, has not been realised to the letter ; but on looking back over the history of the last half century, we find the name of the Marquis of Lausdowne—(for so we must now style him, as he succeeded to the Peerage in 1809)—asso ciated with all the leading measures of the liberal party; such, for example, as the Abolition of Slavery, which he advocated as early as 1807, and subsequently by specific motions in 1814 and 1821. It may
be safely said that in both Houses of the Legislature no question was ever discussed involving the abolition of slavery and the slavo trade, which has not received the support of his advocacy. lie was also from the very first a warm and energetic advocate of the abolition of the penal laws against the Roman Catholics, and of the granting civil and religious emancipation to that body. Ever steady and earnest in this cause, some of Lord Lanadowne's best speeches were made on its behalf. It was on this question that Lord Grenville and his administration were compelled to retire from office in 1807. The Religious Test Bill introduced by Lord Howick proved a fatal blow to Lord Grenville and his friends; and it also resulted in the lose of Lord Henry Petty's seat for the University of Cambridge ; for at the next general election be was left at the bottom of the poll: so strong were the feelings of that constituency against the removal of penal restrictions from the Roman Catholics. The subsequent political career of Lord Lansdowne is identified with that of the Whig party, over whose progress be has always exercised a moderating influence. In 1820 be anticipated the enlightened measures of a more recent day by a motion in favour of the principle of free trade both at home and abroad. In 1822 we find him engaged in briugiug forward a motion for an inquiry into the suffering condition of Ireland and its causes ; and in 1824 he strongly urged upon the ministry of Lord Liverpool the necessity of acknowledging the independence of the Brazilian Republics. After eighteen years exclusion from a share of the admiuis tration, Lord Landowne again took office in 1828 as Secretary of State for the Home Department under George Canning, and ho also held the seals of the Foreign Office under the short-lived administra tion of his successor, Viscount Goderich, now Earl of Ripon. In this position he had scarcely time to develops his capacity io the wide range of foreign politics; but the impression which he left on the public mind was very favourable to his administrative abilities. Some of his best speeches however during this period touched not on foreign affairs, but on the question of Roman Catholic emancipation, in the final settlement of which measure he took a leadiug part. After remaining in the ranks. of the opposition from 1829 to 1831, during the administration of the Duke of Wellington, Lord Lansdowne again took office under Earl Grey in the latter year, when be became President of the Council, a post in which his high character and extended experience reudered his assistance peculiarly valuable to his party. Having taken an active share in the passing of the Reform Act, the principle of which he had advocated during the whole amine of his political life, he continued to hold the same post under the ministry of Lord Melbourne down to the retirement of that nobleman from office in 1841. On the accession of Sir Robert Peel iu that year, Lord Lausdowne became the recognised leader of the opposition in the House of Lords,and in this position his dignity and courtesy conciliated the respect and esteem even of his opponents. In 1846 ho resumed his office and his functions as leader of the House of Lords, under the administration of Lord John Russell. He resigned office together with that nobleman in 1852, accompanying his resignation with a speech of touching dignity, which will long be remembered as the appropriate farewell of one who had become the Nestor of the Upper House. Having remained in opposition through the brief administra tion of the Earl of Derby, lie declined to assume the reins of office on Lord Derby's retirement in December 1852, though requested by her Majesty to take them ; and has been contented to hold under the Earl of Aberdeen and Lord Palmerston a seat in the cabinet without office.
Lord Lansdowne married in 1808 a daughter of the second Earl of Ilehester, by whom he has an only surviving sou, Lord Shelburne, Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, who has been recently summoned to the House of Lords in his father's barony as Lord Wycombe.