attached himself to the Whig interest, which at that period was headed by the first Duke of Newcastle, but took no active part in the political contests of the latter part of the reign of George the Second.

At the commencement of the present reign, he was colonel of the 72d regiment of foot, and was esteemed a rising military character, having received the particular thanks of Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick for his conduct and intrepidity at the battle of Minden. He appears, however, to have taken an early disgust to the political system that commenced with the administration of Lord Bute. In 1763, he may be said to have entered upon his political career, when he was distinguished as a bold and dignified speaker in the House of Peers against the measures of Lord Bute and his successor Mr. George Grenville. In 1765, the Tory system experienced a complete overthrow, and the satellites of Lord Bute gave way to the Whigs, headed by their leader, Lord Rockingham, under whose auspices the Stamp-Act was repealed, the tranquillity and confidence of America restored, and the principles of government (which had been introduced at the Revolution, and had raised the country to such a height of splendor and greatness in the succeeding reigns) apparently re-established. In this administration, the Duke of Richmond held the office of secretary of state, the duties of which he discharged with ability and general approbation. In little more than a year,

this administration gave way to a motley and discordant group of Whigs and Tories, the latter of whom were accused of acting under the secret. influence of the favourite Lord Bute, who had not. courage to avow himself any longer the adviser of measures, to the execution of which a considerable degree of responsibility was necessarily annexed. The Duke of Grafton, though for a short time the ostensible leader of the new administration, soon surrendered his situation to Lord North, who persevered in the system of favouritism till he involved the country in a war with France, Spain, and Holland; lost America, and doubled the debt of the nation. During the whole of this momentous interval, from 1767 to 1782, the Duke of Richmond was one of the most active opponents of all those measures which tended to involve his country in ruin. He was closely united with the Rockingham party, but he went beyond most of the Whigs in his zeal for the principles of civil and political liberty. In 1781, he introduced into parliament a project for an annual and equal representation of the people, which has been admired and applauded by many of the wisest and most virtuous characters of the country.

His plan was to make the election of the representatives of the people annual, and the right of voting universal.

The kingdom of Great Britain was to be divided into five hundred districts; each district to contain an equal population, and to choose one member.

The election to begin and end in one day.

The people to be registered in each district three months before the election, with their profession, trade, or employment, and the street or place of their abode.

To give their votes in the parish-church of their residence before the church-wardens, who were to close the poll at the setting of the sun on the day the election was to commence, and deliver the same, personally, to the sheriff of the district, who was to sum up the whole on that day se'nnight, at the most central town of the district, and make his return of the person who had a majority of the suffrages of the people.

Every male person in the country, who had attained the age of twenty-one years, (criminals and insane persons only excepted,) to have a vote in the election of the representatives of the people.

At this time his Grace was at the head of the Constitutional Society, a member of the committees of the county of Sussex and city of Westminster, appointed to effect a parliamentary reform, and one of the nine delegates elected by the latter body to meet an equal number of delegates from each of the other committees constituted for the same purpose, to form a convention of the whole, in order to pursue the most effectual means for carrying this popular measure into effect.

At the assembly of the delegates, the Duke of Richmond was unanimously chosen president. They denominated themselves "the Convention

of

of Delegates from the respective Committees constituted for obtaining a Reform in the State of the Representation of the People in Parliament," and displayed the most ardent and commendable zeal in the prosecution of an object so truly impor

tant.

Upon the fall of Lord North from power, and the overthrow of the Tory system in April, 1782, the Marquis of Rockingham and the Whigs returned into office, and the Duke of Richmond was appointed master-general of the Ordnance, and received the honour of the Garter. This administration was divided and annihilated in little more than three months after its commencement, in consequence of the unfortunate death of its leader. The Marquis of Lansdown was appointed first lord of the Treasury, and all the cabinet-ministers resigned, except the Duke of Richmond, Duke of Grafton, and General Conway. The Whigs had pledged themselves to the people to effect two grand measures, — a parliamentary reform and the conclusion of peace with America. In vain did the new administration profess the same principle and promise to pursue the same measures. The greatest part of the Rockingham party, comprising Mr. Fox, Mr. Burke, Mr. Sheridan, the Duke of Portland, Lord Fitzwilliam, the Cavendish family, Mr. Windham, Lord Keppel, and all the leaders, formed a coalition with Lord North and the discarded administration, and, composing a considerable majority in the two Houses of Parliament, at the opening

of

of the ensuing session, compelled the Marquis of Lansdown to resign. Upon this memorable occasion, the Duke of Richmond took the lead in a new Opposition with the Marquis of Lansdown, Mr. Pitt, the Earl of Liverpool, (then Mr. Charles Jenkinson,) and Mr. Dundas; a still more heterogeneous and discordant combination than the party they opposed. In less than ten months, however, this new party, with the assistance of the court-influence, and from the unpopularity of the coalition, united in themselves all the efficient powers of government, which they have held ever since, while the Duke of Richmond resumed his place at the head of the Ordnance. The great desideratum of a reform in parliament was still considered as so far from being abandoned, that Mr. Pitt, the new minister, became its champion, and brought it forward three successive years in the House of Commons. Even Mr. Dundas was converted to its merits, and his name is to be found among the minority who divided in its favour. Thus supported by eloquence and power in parliament, and by the united voice of the country out of doors, it will astonish those who are not complete masters of the subject, how a measure of such universal popularity, so evidently calculated to harmonize the people, and make them adore their constitution and government, should have so repeatedly failed of success.

The Duke of Richmond, upon introducing his Reform-Bill in the House of Lords, declared, that