HUSKISSON, WILLIAM, was born March 11, 1770, at Birch Moreton Court, Worcestershire, where his father occupied an extensive farm. The family had long been settled in Staffordshire, and for several generations had been in the possession of a moderate landed estate on which they raided. On the death of his mother in 1774, his father removed into Staffordshire, married a second wife, and resided upon his patrimony until his death in 1790. He had alienated a considerable portion of his property in order to make provision for his younger children. The entailed property descended to the subject of the preeent notice, who cut off the entail and disposed of the lauded property altogether.
In 1783, when in his fourteenth year, William Huskisson was sent to Paris, at the request of his maternal uncle, Dr. Gem, physician to the English Embassy. Dr. Gem was on terms of intimacy with Franklin and Jefferson, and the party known as the Encyclopaedists.' William Huskisson, as was natural to a young man, became an enthusiast in the cause of the French Revolution. He was present at the taking of the Distils) in 1789, and became a member of the 'Societe de I789,' established in 1790. The object of this club was to sustain the new constitutional principles. His connection with it lcd to the charge which was often brought against him of having been a member of the Jacobin Club. In August 1790, he pronounced a 'Discours' at the Societe de 1789 ' against the proposed creation of paper-money to a large extent, which obtained for him at the time considerable celebrity in the French capitaL He withdrew from the 'Societe' after the legislature had determined upon the issue of assignats. In the same year (1790) he became private secretary to Lord Gower (afterwards the Marquis of Stafford), who was then the Eoglish ambassador. A letter dated a few days after the attack ou tho Tuilcriea on the 20th of June 1792, shows that Mr. Huskisson's views respecting the Revolution had undergone a change. After the events of the 10th of August 1792, the English ambassador was recalled, and Mr. Huskisson returned with him to England. He con tinued to pass the greater part of his time with Lord Gower at Wimbledon, where he often met Mr. Pitt and Mr. Dundas. In January
1793, by desire of Mr. Dundee, he undertook the duties of a small offico which had just been created for investigating the claims of French emigrants who were then thronging in crowds to England. Early in 1793 he was appointed under-secretary of state in the department of War and Colonies under Mr. Duudas. In this situation he soon became distinguished by his talents for business. In the 'Biographical Memoirs,' attached to the edition of his 'Speeches,' it is stated that he was often called to the private councils of Mr. Pitt. He conducted the equipment of Sir Charles (afterwards Earl) Grey's expedition to the Weat Indies. Towards the end of 1796 he was brought into parliament as member for Morpeth, by the Earl of Carlisle; but he does not appear as a Speaker before February 1793. On the retirement of Mr. Pitt he resigned his official situatiou. He was unsuccessful in procuring a seat at the general election in 1802, and did not appear again in parliament until 1804, when Le sat for Liskeard. Under the administration formed by Mr. Pitt in 1804, he was Secretary of the Treasury; and after the death of that minister, and during the Whig administration of 1806.7, he was an active member of the opposition. At the general election in 1806 he was re-elected for Liskeard; and after the dissolution of parliament in ]807 he sat for Harwich, and continued to do so until 1812. From this period until 1823 he represented Chichester, in which neighbour hood he had, in 1801, purchased a small estate. From 1823 until his death he represented Liverpool. On the retirement of the Whigs from office, in 1807, Mr. Huskisson reanmed his former post as Secre tary of the Treasury. In 1807 he was strongly invited by the Duke of Richmond, then viceroy of Ireland, to become chief secretary ; but his services could not at the time be dispensed with in the office he already filled. He resigned office in 1809, along with Mr. Canning, when the latter left the ministry on account of differences with Lord Castlereagh.