400 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1810. 



had the honour of being consult- 

 ed by the premier with respect 

 to the means to be adopted on 

 this occasion. His weaitli, talents, 

 and activity, augmented his favour 

 and importance with Mr. Pitt's 

 administration. He was consider- 

 ed as one of the strongest links 

 of the monied aristocraci^ ; and 

 was created a baronet in 1793. 

 It is well known that the system 

 of this country with regard to all 

 its foreign possessions, has ever 

 been that of exclusive monopoly ; 

 accordingly when the whole body 

 of English merchants demanded 

 some participation in the East- 

 India traffic, sir Francis came for- 

 ward as the advocate of the com- 

 pany. He. insisted that their heavy 

 expence and their actual public 

 services, composed a debt to the 

 discharge of which an eternal mo- 

 nopoly of the East-India trade 

 would scarcely be sufficient ! It is 

 needless to add that the charter 

 wns again renewed ; and the relief 

 of the body of English merchants, 

 from what their petition called 

 " oppressive monopoly," was left 

 like other evils, to the gradual 

 effect of time, or the shock of 

 some revolution. In 1796, upon sir 

 John Jervis being rewarded with a 

 peerage and vacating his seat for 

 Cliipping Wycombe, sir Francis 

 Baring was elected for that bo- 

 rough ; and at the general election 

 in 1802, he was again returned 

 for the same place. Sir Francis 

 was esteemed not less amiable in 

 domestic than in public life. Al- 

 though of a grave cast of mind, 

 he was not without a relish for 

 social enjoyments, and was til! 

 within a few years past, seldom 

 absent from the parties and enter- 

 tainments of his friends. The 

 routs of his lady were reckoned 



among some of the most brilliant 

 in town; but he preferred the more 

 tranquil enjoyments of a domestic 

 circle, to those gay but promis- 

 cuous assemblies. His table was 

 such as became his wealth, and his 

 solid hospitality vvas perfectlysuit- 

 able to the opulent character ofan 

 English merchant. His talents 

 were of a very superior cast, and 

 highly improved by reading. Few 

 men understood the real interests 

 of trade better ; and it may surely 

 be added, few men ever arrived to 

 the highest rank and honour of 

 commercial life with moreunsullied 

 integrity. At his death he was 

 unquestionably the first merchant 

 in Europe; first in knowledge and 

 talents, and first in character and 

 opulence. His name vvas known 

 and respected in every commercial 

 quarter of the globe ; and by the 

 East-India Company, and other 

 public trading bodies, he was con- 

 sulted as a man of consummate 

 knowledge and inflexible honour. 

 At Seaham, near Stockton- 

 upon-Tees, aged twenty-three, of 

 a decline, Joseph Blackett, the 

 extraordinary young man, whose 

 talents and misfortunes recom- 

 mended him to the notice and 

 afterwards to the protection, of 

 many very distinguished charac- 

 ters, under the introduction and 

 auspices of Mr. Pratt. About a 

 year and a half since, Mr. P. as- 

 sisted him in puttingforth a volume 

 of poems, under tlie title of" Spe- 

 cimens of the Poetry, &c." the 

 whole edition of which was cir- 

 culated by private patronage, very 

 greatly to the advantage of the 

 author. 



AtTreepland,inCumberland,Mrs. 

 Mary Jackson, aged eighty-two 

 years, forty of which slie had been 

 avvidow, and was greatly respected 



