572 



LANSDOWNE. 



LEWIS, GEORGE CORNEWALL. 



LANSDOWNE, HENRY PETTY FITZ-MAU- 

 EIOE, marquis of, a British statesman, born 

 July 2d, 1780, died Jan. 31st, 1863. He was edu- 

 cated at Westminister School, and at Trinity 

 College, Cambridge; and also passed several 

 years in Edinburgh, under the care of Dugald 

 Stewart, acquiring from his intercourse with 

 that- distinguished man, and with Brougham, 

 Jeffrey, Sidney Smith, and others of his own 

 age, a love of liberal principles and constitu- 

 tional government to which he remained faith- 

 ful during his whole life. At 21 years of age, 

 being then known by his courtesy title of Lord 

 Henry Petty, he entered parliament for the 

 borough of Gallic, and soon gained the reputa- 

 tion of an able and accomplished debater. 

 Upon the death of Mr. Pitt, he succeeded him 

 in the representation of the University of Cam- 

 bridge, and in 1806 he entered the " All the 

 Talents " ministry under Fox and Grenville as 

 Chancellor of the Exchequer. He had identi- 

 fied himself from the outset of his career with 

 the fortunes of the Whigs, but the short dura- 

 tion of the ministry, which retired in 1807, 

 prevented him from displaying his financial 

 ability. 



In the latter year he succeeded his brother 

 as third Marquis of Lansdowne, and transferred 

 his services to the House of Peers, where, dur- 

 ing the long period of Tory ascendancy, he 

 was a prominent leader of the Whig party, 

 commanding the respect of his opponents by 

 his powers of debate, his varied and extensive 

 information, and his amenity of manners* 

 Though long compelled to remain in a hopeless 

 minority in parliament, he abated in no de- 

 gree his efforts in support of liberal measures, 

 and the final triumph of the friends of Catho- 

 lic emancipation, the abolition of slavery, par- 

 liamentary reform, and free trade was very 

 considerably promoted by his eloquence and 

 perseverance. 



After 20 years' exclusion from administrative 

 duties, he was appointed in August, 1827, 

 Home Secretary in the short lived cabinet of 

 Viscount Goderich; and upon the formation 

 of Earl Grey's ministry in November, 1880, he 

 became President of the Council, an office 

 which he held during several administrations 

 uniil the overthrow of the Melbourne ministry 

 and the accession of the Tories under Sir Rob- 

 ert Peel in September, 1841. He resumed the 

 office in 1846 in the ministry of Lord John 

 Russell, and held it until February, 1852. The 

 brief Derby ministry of that year was succeed- 

 ed in December by that of the Earl of Aber- 

 deen, who solicited Lord Lansdowne to return 

 to his former post. The latter declined, but 

 consented to accept a seat in the cabinet with- 

 out office, which he occupied until March, 1858, 

 when he retired definitively from public life. 



With the exception of Lord Holland, no Whig 

 statesman of the present century had for so 

 many years been a leader in the House of 

 Peers, and subsequent to the death of that 

 nobleman, he was generally regarded, in vir- 

 tue of his age, his experience, and his per- 

 suasive eloquence, as the Nestor of the Upper 

 House. 



LEWIS, Sir GEORGE CORNEWALL, an English 

 statesman and scholar, born in Radnor, Wales, 

 October 21st, 1806, died in London, April 13th, 

 1863. His father, Sir Thomas Frankland Lewis, 

 was a statesman of considerable ability, and 

 had served as joint secretary of the Treasury, 

 vice-president of the Board of Trade, treasurer 

 of the navy, and chairman of the Board of Poor 

 Law Commissioners, and was created a baronet 

 in 1846. Sir George received his early educa- 

 tion at Eton, from whence he passed to Christ 

 Church College, Oxford, where he graduated, 

 at the age of twenty-two, ranking as first class 

 in classics and second in mathematics. In 

 1831 he was admitted to the bar, but never 

 practised, having acquired a legal education as 

 the necessary preliminary to public service. 

 At the age of twenty-nine, he was appointed 

 assistant commissioner to report on the work- 

 ing of the relief of the poor in Ireland ; and 

 the following year, made a commissioner to in- 

 quire into the affairs of Malta. In 1839 he 

 was appointed successor to his father, as Poor 

 Law Commissioner, and remained in this office 

 till 1847, when he was elected a member of 

 parliament for Herefordshire, and became sec- 

 retary of the Board of Control. In 1848 he 

 became under secretary of the House Depart- 

 ment; in 1850, secretary of the Treasury; and 

 in 1852, onthedisolution of the Russell cabinet, 

 retired from office. In May, 1855, he again as- 

 sumed office, succeeding Mr. Gladstone, as 

 Chancellor of the Exchequer. When Lord 

 Palmerston returned to power he yielded this 

 position to Mr. Gladstone, and took the po- 

 sition of Home Secretary. On the death of 

 Lord Herbert of Lea, in 1861, Sir George (he 

 had succeeded to the baronetcy, in 1855) took 

 charge of the War Department, the duties of 

 which proved too severe for his already failing 

 health. Though never a brilliant speaker, Sir 

 George was a perspicuous and clear-minded de- 

 bater, and his thorough acquaintance with pub- 

 lic affairs, his sound judgment, clear head, and 

 fixed honesty of purpose, together with his rel- 

 ish for hard work, made him very valuable ta 

 the country as a minister of State. Yet, amil 

 the multiplicty of duties which pressed upon 

 him during his twenty-seven years of public 

 service, he was not simply a politician or eve:i 

 a statesman. He dwelt in a higher and loftier 

 sphere ; he was eminently a scholar and a man 

 of letters not from any necessity, for his means 



