our Hanways, as one of the most worthy of his countrymen. Here let us, however, consider, that we have perhaps already said more than will be grateful to the eye of modest merit; we shall only hope, that our deserved praise, and the general esteem of all his contemporaries, will occasion this good man to continue his virtuous course, till he shall meet with the future and everlasting reward which his religion has taught him to believe in and expect.

0.

THE RIGHT HON. THOMAS PELHAM

IS eldest son of Lord Pelham, who succeeded to that title upon the death of Thomas Holles Pelham, Duke of Newcastle and Marquis of Clare, to whom he was the next in succession in the male line. The Earl of Lincoln, who succeeded to the title of Duke of Newcastle, being the son of his sister, and married also to his neice, the daughter of the late Right Hon. Henry Pelham, prime minister in the reign of George the Second, to whom, and to his heirs male, the title of Duke was limited by patent bearing date the 13th of November, 1756, as was the Barony of Pelham to the present Lord, by another patent of the present King granted the 4th of May, 1762.

Mr. Pelham was elected a representative for the county of Sussex at the general election in 1780;.

and,

and, arranging himself on the Treasury side of the House, he continued to vote on that side during the remainder of Lord North's administration till March, 1782. On the appointment of the new administration, the name of Mr. Pelham was the only person from his side of the House which displayed himself in the new arrangements. He obtained the office of surveyor-general of the Ordnance, and continued to hold it under the succeeding administration of Lord Shelburne.

This party being driven from power by the coalition in 1783, Mr. Pelham attached himself to Lord North and Mr. Fox, and was appointed secretary of Ireland under the lord-lieutenancy of the late Earl of Northington. But, the coalition being in their turn compelled to retire from office at the beginning of the year 1784, Mr. Pelham was dismissed, and he in consequence became a decisive and active opponent of all the measures of the present administration. He continued to pursue this line of political conduct till the defection of the Duke of Portland and his connexions had reduced the numbers of the Opposition in the two Houses of Parliament so considerably, as to give no farther alarm to the Minister, nor to afford any hope of future preferment or emolument to those who adhered to the principles of the Opposition. In this situation Mr. Pelham once more changed his party, and was converted to the interest of the present administration. He was, thereupon, restored to his former post of Irish se1799-1800.

$

cretary,

cretary, and he continued to hold that office during the government of Earl Camden.

We cannot consider these instances of tergiversation as reflecting great lustre on an eminent political character; on the contrary, we lament that the fashion of the times at all authorizes such dereliction from public principle, and we are forced to admit, with Sir William Draper in his reply to Junius, that the "principles of the most exalted characters hang too loosely about them."

Mr. Pelham is amiable in private life, his manners and address are conciliating, and, as a magistrate, he is impartial and highly respectable. He has contributed greatly to the introduction of the improved system of agriculture into the county of Sussex, and is much esteemed in his neighbourhood and in the militia of that county, of which he is lieutenant-colonel, for his pleasing and friendly qualities. His personal influence procures the return of four members to parliament; one for the town of Lewes, two for the borough of Seaford, and himself for the county of Sussex.

0.

THE DUKE OF GRAFTON.

THIS distinguished veteran, in the field of politics, still attracts the attention of his contempoFaries, by the great authority of his name, by his late virtuous secession from public business, and

by

by his patronage of learning and learned men. In the progress of an active life, he has ably filled the first offices in the state; has conscientiously done his duty, whenever the measures of the respective administrations differed from his own. notions of rectitude; and, at the present period, when he finds that his warnings and his advice are of no service to his country, he wholly retires from public view, contented with the character he has so well earned of an enlightened statesman and genuine patriot.

His Grace was born on the 28th of September, 1736, and succeeded to the title of his grandfather before he became of age, in the year 1757. The late King appointed him lord-lieutenant of the county of Sussex; and, as an admirer of the great William Pitt, he became a patriot of very promising expectations. He in fact so closely united himself with the party of that great man, that, under the subsequent administration of Lord Bute, he was deprived of his lord-lieutenancy.

The outset of his political life was uniformly distinguished by an opposition to the court faction, and by his zeal for the liberties, glory, and constitution of his country. He was of the number of those who warmly opposed, with a sort of prescience of its consequences, the American StampAct, which was passed in 1762; and he particularly distinguished himself by his censures of the terms of the peace, and of all the measures of the Bute and Grenville administrations.

Such conduct strongly recommended the Duke to the confidence of the popular party; and, in the Rockingham administration, which succeeded that of the Grenville, he obtained the appointment of secretary of state to, the foreign department. To the honour of his Grace and his collegues, a wiser and more liberal system was pursued, the obnoxious Stamp-Act was repealed, and a spirit of equity and moderation characterized every measure of the new administration.

A division of sentiments having been effected among the leading men, by the intrigues of that secret faction, whose influence has done so much mischief, his Grace resigned on the 22d of May, 1766, because he would not act unless Lord Chatham were one of the ministry. A new administration was in consequence formed in the month of August, consisting wholly of the friends of Lord Chatham, and the Duke of Grafton had the honour to be placed at the head of the Treasury. This patriotic party was speedily undermined, as the preceding had been, and, in little more than a year, a division and mutual jealousy having been effected, the Lords Chatham, Shelburne, and Northington, resigned.

This was the most critical and interesting epoch of the life of the Duke of Grafton.

He and Earl Camden retained their places after their patriotic friends had resigned, and thus exposed themselves to the suspicion of the patriots, and to the invectives of the immortal pen of Junius.