In 1795, Mr. Grey opposed with great firmness, Mr. Pitt's motion for the adjustment of the Prince of Wales's debts, and moved for the reduction of the Prince's income. He professed himself ready to support the real splendour of the royal family "as any slippery sycophant of a court;" but said he thought there was more true dignity in manifesting a heart alive to the distresses of millions, than in all those trappings which encumber royalty without adorning it. He asked whether the legislature should give an example of encouraging extravagance at a moment when the prevailing fashion of prodigality among people of fortune was rapidly destroying their independence, and making them the tools of the court, and the contempt of the people. He knew the refusal to pay his debts would be a severe privation to the Prince of Wales; but it would be a just penalty for the past, a useful lesson for the future, and a proper deference to the severe pressure and privations endured by the people. Mr. Grey's amendment was supported by what was then a strong majority—99 to 260; and the original motion carried: his conduct on this occasion seems never to have been forgotten by the Prince of Wales, the Regent or the King. It should here be mentioned, that, with equal justice, Mr. Grey subsequently defended the rights of His Royal Highness from the shackles proposed to be laid on him as Regent.

Mr. Grey's opposition to Mr. Pitt's measures continued unabated for many years, while he remained equally steady in his attachment to Mr. Fox. His bitter hostility to the union between Ireland and England may be said to have produced one of his most celebrated speeches. Neither was he dazzled, nor misled by the splendid talents of Burke, at this time in highest repute. When Mr. Fox was deserted by Lords Fitzwilliam, Carlisle, and other alarmists, Mr. Grey unchangingly adhered to him; and when Mr. Fox and Lord Grenville formed a Whig ministry, in 1806, Mr. Grey, then, by his father's elevation to the peerage, become Lord Howick, was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty, and one of the Cabinet Council. He next succeeded Mr. Fox as Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and leader in the House of Commons. This ministry was ill-formed, and wanted unity of purpose: their abolition of the Slave Trade was a redeeming measure, in which Lord Howick bore a conspicuous part; but his lordship's motion for the emancipation of the Catholics brought about his dismissal from the ministry.

Lord Howick, soon after, by the death of his father, succeeded to the title of Earl Grey; and by the death of his uncle, Sir Henry Grey, to the family estate. Ill health, for a time, kept his lordship from public life: he retired with no place but that of a Governor of the Charter House, and without pension or sinecure. Upon the resignation of the Duke of Portland, in 1809, his successor, Mr. Perceval, proposed a coalition with Lords Grenville and Grey, which was at once rejected by the latter. In the following year, his lordship "felt it his duty to arraign and to expose the gross mismanagement of the government, and their repeated and dangerous misconduct," in Parliament. In the same session, he charged the lord chancellor (Eldon) with a crime little short of treason, in having set the great seal, in 1801 and 1804, to commissions for giving the royal assent to several bills, whilst the King was in a state of mental infirmity, under medical care, and subject to personal control. The motion was negatived by a majority of 189 to 64; "but Lord Eldon has not forgotten the accusation, or forgiven the mover." 4 In 1812, another attempt was made to bring Lord Grey, with Lord Grenville, into the cabinet; but this was rejected as promptly as before.

Lord Grey again retired to private life. In 1817, his lordship reappeared, and moved an amendment to the parliamentary address to the throne, urging rigid economy, retrenchment, and an inquiry into the state of the nation. In the same year he brought before the House of Lords, the notable circular of Lord Sidmouth for the prosecution of libels by magistrates. "It is a singular fact," observes an acute historical writer, 5 "that Lord Grey, on this occasion, made an able and erudite law argument; which all the law lords, including Lord Ellenborough, made vain efforts to refute; and which Lord Ellenborough had the manliness to eulogize;" notwithstanding which Lord Grey's motion for a copy of the opinion of the law officers of the crown was negatived.

During the trial of Queen Caroline, the wisdom-tempered zeal of Lord Grey ranked him amongst the most efficient, as he was the most eloquent, of her defenders: his lordship, in conjunction with Lord King, also made successive attempts, by motions, to quash the investigation.

To the administration of the Earl of Liverpool, it need scarcely be added, Earl Grey was thoroughly hostile: his aversion to the policy of Mr. Canning was equally decided; and the same independent spirit urged him to oppose the measures of the Wellington cabinet, except the memorable measure of Catholic Emancipation, by the proposal of which he had lost office in the year 1810. His lordship's eloquent efforts in this cause must be alive in the recollection of the reader.

We are now fast approaching the consummation of one of the grand objects of his lordship's political life. By the dissolution of the Wellington cabinet, in 1830, Lord Grey became at the head of the present administration. His first act was the introduction of the grand measure for parliamentary reform, which, for sixteen months past, has interested the whole population of this mighty empire. His lordship's emphatic expressions, on this occasion, are "familiar as household words." "He made it a condition on accepting office, that Parliamentary Reform should be introduced as a government measure. That condition having been assented to by his most gracious sovereign, by this measure he was prepared to stand or fall." Gratifying as would be the task, we need not detail the incidents of the last few months of his lordship's career. Our eulogium would be poor indeed, while nine-tenths of the journals of our country are perpetuating his good deeds; while his political integrity has become exemplary to every cabinet in Europe; and millions are about to burst forth in "the loud festivity of mirth" to celebrate the virtue of their popular minister.

Earl Grey married in 1794, Mary Elizabeth Brabazon, daughter of Lord Ponsonby, by whom his lordship has had a numerous family: the eldest son and heir apparent being Viscount Howick, born in 1802. In our outline of Lord Grey's public life, the reader may have observed his Lordship's fondness for the retirement of the domestic circle. This accords with his recent declaration in parliament: "he was fond of retirement, and in domestic life he lived happy in the bosom of his family. Nothing could have tempted him to embark on these stormy seas—

Bankrupt of life, but prodigal of ease—

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The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 19, No. 555, Supplementary Number

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