1 830.] 



483 ] 



BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS OF EMINENT PERSONS. 



WILLIAM HUSKISSON, ESQ., M.P. 



Certainly we are not amongst those who 

 regarded Mr. Huskisson as one of the 

 greatest men of the age. His free-trade 

 system, which he probably imbibed from 

 the late Earl of Liverpool, has been, and 

 will yet be, productive of the most ruinous 

 consequences ; and he was one of those who 

 sanctioned and promoted the breaking-up 

 of the British Constitution, by the passing 

 of the Popery Bill. However, though we 

 may think lightly of him as a politician, or 

 as a statesman, he was amiable as a man ; 

 and it is impossible to contemplate the 

 melancholy circumstances of his fate, with- 

 out feeling the deepest commiseration for 

 him, and for his bereaved widow. 



Mr. Huskisson was born about the year 

 1769. His mother was sister to Dr. Ge- 

 rund, physician to the English embassy to 

 Paris, and the intimate friend of Hebratius 

 and Franklin. Dr. Gerund left his niece a 

 considerable property. At the breaking 

 out of the French revolution, he is said to 

 have been in apprenticeship, as a surgeon, 

 at Paris ; and it is further alleged, that he 

 became an active and violent member of 

 the Jacobin Club, and subsequently, of the 

 London Corresponding Society. This may 

 be all calumny. 



It is understood to have been at Paris, 

 that Mr. Huskisson was first seen and 

 noticed by the Marquess of Stafford ; and, 

 finding him to be well acquainted with 

 French affairs, of which the English minis- 

 try of that period were notoriously ignorant, 

 his lordship regarded him as a person whose 

 services might be useful to Mr. Pitt. To 

 Mr. Pitt, and to Mr. Dundas, he accord- 

 ingly introduced him ; and he became private 

 secretary to the latter. By his talents and 

 assiduity, he gave great satisfaction ; he was 

 placed in the home department, under Mr. 

 Dundas ; and soon afterwards, he was 

 elected M. P. for the borough of Morpeth, 

 with the present Earl of Carlisle. He mar- 

 ried, in 1799, a daughter of the late Admiral 

 Milbanke. On his marriage, Mr. Dundas 

 procured for him a grant of a pension to his 

 wife of 600 a year, the payment of which 

 was to take place at his death, or on his 

 retirement from office. In 1802, he offered 

 himself for Dover, with Mr. Trevannion 

 and Mr. Spencer Smith, but was unsuccess- 

 ful. In 1804, on the death of Lord Eliot, 

 he stood for Liskeard: the return was double, 

 but Mr. Huskisson was declared duly 

 elected. At a later period he was returned 

 for Chichester, through the influence of the 

 Duke of Richmond. In the House he 

 frequently spoke upon financial affairs, on 

 which his information was extensive, if not 

 profound. 



Mr. Huskisson was, in succession, ap- 

 pointed Receiver-General of the Duchy of 



Lancaster, and a Commissioner of the Board 

 of Trade. When Mr. Pitt retired from 

 office, previously to the formation of Mr. 

 Addington's ministry, he procured from 

 his Majesty a sign manual, granting to 

 Mr. Huskisson a pension of 1,200 a year. 

 When Mr. Pitt returned to power, Mr. 

 Huskisson became chief Secretary to the 

 Treasury. He retired from office on the 

 formation of Mr. Fox's cabinet, but returned 

 with Mr. Perceval, and resumed the secre- 

 taryship. In 1809, when the duel occurred 

 between Lord Castlereagh and Mr. Can- 

 ning, in consequence of differences which 

 arose out of the ill-fated Walcheren expe- 

 dition, Mr. Huskisson accompanied the 

 latter in his retirement from the adminis- 

 tration. He was afterwards President of 

 the Board of Trade ; and, under the minis- 

 try of his friend, Mr. Canning, whom he 

 succeeded as member for Liverpool, he was 

 appointed Secretary for the Colonial De- 

 partment. 



Excepting upon one occasion, we are not 

 aware that Mr. Huskisson ever appeared in 

 print. He was the author of a pamphlet 

 entitled " The Question concerning the 

 Depreciation of our Currency stated and 

 examined." 



His accession to the Wellington cabinet, 

 and subsequent dismissal by the military 

 Duke, must be yet full in the recollection 

 of the reader. From the feeble and un- 

 settled state of the administration, however, 

 the friends of the ex-secretary had been for 

 some time loud in their report that he was 

 speedily to be recalled to place. Whether 

 the report were well-founded is unknown, 

 but it seems not improbable, as we have 

 had proof sufficient that the premier is not 

 over nice in his measures. Howsoever it 

 might be, death has prematurely put an end 

 to the speculation. 



It was on Wednesday, the 15th of Sep- 

 tember, as had been previously arranged, 

 that the ceremony of opening the new 

 Liverpool and Manchester railway took 

 place. The Duke of Wellington, Prince 

 Esterhazy, Earl Wilton, Sir Robert Peel, 

 Mr. Huskisson, and several other persons 

 of consideration, who had been invited on 

 the occasion, left Liverpool, in the splendid 

 car of the Northumbrian, in grand proces- 

 sion. The procession stopped at Parkside, 

 near Newton, to take in fuel and water for 

 the engines, eight or nine of which were 

 present. Here it was that the lamentable 

 accident occurred which deprived Mr. Hus- 

 kisson of life, and cast a gloom over the 

 proceedings of the day. The parties had, 

 contrary to the request of the proprietors, 

 alighted, and had been engaged in desultory 

 conversation. The rapid approach of the 

 Rocket, another of the engines, formed the 

 signal for them to resume their stations on 

 3 P 2 



