GERMAIN, je'r-man', GEORGE SACKVILLE, Viscount SACKVILLE (1716-85). An English sol dier and politician. He was born in England and accompanied his father, the Duke of Dorset, to Dublin on his appointment as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in 1731. Sackville, as he was called up to 1770, was educated at Trinity College, Dub lin, and in 1737 was commissioned a captain in the Sixth Dragoon Guards. Promoted lieutenant colonel of the Twenty-eighth Foot, he served with his regiment under Cumberland in Flanders, being wounded at Fontenoy in May, 1745. He was made a colonel in 1746. his father's second term as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (1751-56) Sackville acted as his principal secre tary, and as Secretary of War for Ireland. In 1758 he took part in the expedition to Saint Mato (France), and in the same year accom panied the third Duke of Marlborough as second in command of the English troops sent to Han over to aid Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick in his operations against the French. Sackville suc ceeded to the command of the British contingent after the death of Marlborough, but for his refusal to obey Ferdinand's orders at the vic torious battle of Minden (August, 1759), he was dismissed from the army. Charges of cowardice were brought against him, which at a court martial, held in 1760, were not proved, but his dismissal was approved on the ground of insub ordination, he was declared unfit for military command, and was dismissed from the Privy Council by George II. Sackville's political ca reer had begun in 1741, in which year he was elected to represent Dover in Parliament, and he had continued as a member of the House from some constituency ever since. Shortly after George III. became King his name was restored to the list of privy councilors, and he began to take an active part in the debates in Commons as a supporter of Lord North. The first actual
mark of favor shown him was his appointment as Vice-Treasurer of Ireland, a position he held during 1765-66. In 1769 he was declared by some, without much reason, to be the author of the Junius Letters. He assumed the name of Germain in 1770. From 1775 to 1779 he was a lord commissioner of trade and plantations, and at the same time Secretary of State for the Colonies, which position he held until the resig nation of Lord North in 1782. In this latter position, in which he had in charge the actual conduct of the war in America, he did much to imbitter the Americans against the mother coun try by his advocacy of harsh measures, by the employment of Continental mercenaries and In dians, and by his continued opposition to all propositions looking toward peace. After the fall of the North Ministry he was created Vis count Sackville and retired from public life.
GERrMAN, J. EDWARD ( 1862— ). An English orchestral composer. He was born at Whit church in Shropshire, and after preliminary in struction under local teachers, became a student at the Royal Academy of Music, where he stud ied from 1880 until his graduation in 1887 as an associate, the fellow's degree being granted him in 1895. In 1889 he became director of music at the Globe Theatre, London. Although he is the composer of an operetta, The Rival I'oets (1886), several symphonies, and consider able chamber music, it is through his incidental music to several of Shakespeare's plays, as Richard III., The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet, As You Like It, and Henry VIII., that he has be come well known. The three dances from the music to the last-named play are popular throughout the world, and particularly in the United States.