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The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. / From the Accession of George III. to the Twenty-Third Year of the Reign of Queen Victoria cover

The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. / From the Accession of George III. to the Twenty-Third Year of the Reign of Queen Victoria

Chapter 617: DEATH OF FOX.
By Edward Farr
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About This Book

The volume traces British political, parliamentary, and military developments from the accession of George III through the early nineteenth century, chronicling changes of ministry and cabinet, debates over colonial taxation and the American conflict, parliamentary controversies involving figures such as Wilkes and Warren Hastings, questions of Catholic relief and slave-trade abolition, and responses to the French Revolution and Napoleonic wars, including major naval and continental campaigns, the union with Ireland, and domestic legislation on finance, civil liberties, and parliamentary reform.

DEATH OF FOX.

This session had been a harassing one to Fox. Canning, bound by the chains of party, assailed him and his colleagues on every measure brought forward, whether excellent or otherwise. Ministers, moreover, were not only harassed by his bitter sarcasms, but also by Percival’s legal knowledge, and by Lord Castlereagh’s prolixity. These were thorns in their sides; and as this active opposition had rendered Mr. Fox’s appearance in his place necessary, it told with great effect upon his constitution at this time: indeed, Fox was dying from the effects of disease augmented by the cares of office, and a laborious attendance on the house; and though this was visible, no mercy was shown him by his opponents. He did not long survive after the session was closed: he died on the 13th of September, and was buried by the side of his great rival, Pitt, in Westminster Abbey. His character as a politician has been seen in previous pages; as a man, he seems to have been loved in life and lamented in his death. Unhappily, however, a large portion of the affection with which he was regarded by his contemporaries, was bestowed on qualities which impaired the dignity of his moral character, and rendered his talents less acceptable to the public. He was what is called “the delight of society;” but his fascinating manners by no means made up for his unsteady principles, and inconsistency of opinion. The death of Fox involved some changes in the ministry. His nephew and pupil, Lord Holland, was brought into the cabinet as privy seal, and Fox was succeeded in the foreign department by his friend Lord Howick. The other ministerial changes were simply these:—Mr. T. Grenville became first lord of the admiralty, instead of Lord Howick; Tierney, president of the board of control, instead of Grenville; and Sidmouth became president of the council, in lieu of Earl Fitzwilliam, who resigned. Lord Holland, therefore, was the only new member brought into the cabinet.