\ 
176. 
-nued to fill with’ the highest reputution from 
that time (1794) till 1801, when he, Lord 
Spencer, Lord Grenville, and Mr. Pitt, 
 gesigned their offices ; and shortly afterwards 
Mr. Addington (now Lord Viscount Sid- 
movth) was appointed Chancellor of the 
Exchequer and Fi:st Lord cf the Treasury. 
On the preliminaries of peace with France 
‘heing acceded to by that statesman and his 
coadjutors, sn 1801, Mr. Windham made 
his celebrated speech in Parliament, which 
was afterwards (4prii i602) published, with 
san Appendix, containing a character of the 
present usurper of the Freich tnrone, which 
will transmit to posterity the principal flagi- 
tious passages of his life up to that period, 
“in the most lively colours. On Mr. Adding- 
ton being driven from the helm, in 1805, 
principally by the battery of Mr. Windham’s 
eloquence, a new administration was again 
formed. by Mr. Pitt, which was dissolved by 
his death, im>18063; and shortly afterwards, 
on Lord Grenville’s accepting the office of 
First Lord of the Treasury, Mr. Windham 
was appointed Sscretary of State for the 
War Department, which he held till his 
Majesty, in the following year, thought fit to 
constitute a new administration. During 
this period he carried into a Jaw his Bill 
for the limited service of those who enlist 
in our regular army; a measure which will 
ever endear his namé to the English soldiery. 
The genius and talents of this illustrious 
statesman are well known and universally 
acknowledged. He was unquestionably the 
most distinguished man of the present time, 
and not in-erior, im many respects, to the 
most admired characters of the age that is 
just gone by. He had been in his earher 
years;d: very diligent stuaent, and was an 
excellent Greek and Latin scholar. In his 
lat er years, like Burke and Johnson, he wis 
an excursive reader, but gathered 3 great 
variety of knowlecge from different books, 
and from occasionally mixing, like them, 
with very various classes and descriptions of 
men. His memory wes most tenacicus. In 
his Parliamentary speeches his principal 
object always was to convince tR= un‘erstand- 
ing by irretragible argument, which he at 
the same time enlivened by a profusion of 
imagery, drawn sometimes trom the most 
abstruse pars of science, but oftener from 
the most familiar objects of common live, 
. But what gave a peculiar fustre to what ver 
he urged, was his kncwn and uniiorm inte- 
grit’ and a firm conviction in the breasts 
of his hesvers, that he always uttered the 
- genuine and disi: terested “Sentiments of his 
heart. His lanzuage, both jn writing and 
speakine, was always simple, and he wag 
extremely ond of iaiomatic phrases, which 
he tliocght greatly contributed to preserve 
the purity of car languaze: Ke surveyed 
every subject of importance with a philoso- 
phic eye, aid was thenge enabled te discover 
“rer 
Account of the late Mr. Windham. 
nexed to that office. This station he conti-— 
_ his death, 
fSept. 15 
and éetect latent mischief, concealed under 
the plausible appzarance of public advantage. 
Hence ail the clamourers for undefined and 
imaginary liberty, and all these who medi- 
tate the subversion of the coustitution under 
the pretext: of reform, shrunk from his 
grasp; and persons of this description were 
his only enemies. “But his dauntless intre- 
pidity, and his noble disdain of vulgar popu- 
larity, held up a shield against their malice $ 
and no fear of consequences -ever drove him 
from that manly and honouredle course, 
which the rectitude and purity of his mind 
induced him to pursue. As an orator, he was 
simple, elegant, prompt, and graceful. 
His genius was so fertile, and his reading $0 
extensive, that there were few subjects on 
which he could not instruct, amuse, and 
pursaade. He wag frequently (as has justly 
been observed) ‘¢ at once entertaiving and 
abstruse, drawing illustrations promiscuously 
from familiar life, and the reconcite parts of 
science; nor was it unusual to hear him 
thiough three adjuining sentences, in the 
first witty, in the second metaphysical, and 
in the last scholastic.” But his eloquence 
derived its principal power from the quickness 
of his appréhension, and the philosophical 
profundity of his mind. Of this his speech 
on Myr. Curweui's Bill (May; 1809) is an 
eminent instance ; for it unquestionably cone 
tains more moral and political wisdom than 
is found’ in any similar performance which 
has appeared since the death of Mr. Burke, 
and may be placed on the same platform with, 
the most admired productions of thet distin~ 
guished orator. In private life no man petr= 
haps of any age had a greater number of 
zealous friends and admisers. In adsition to 
his extraordinary tdievts and accomplish 
ments, the grace and happiness of his address 
atid manner gave an irresistible charm to his 
conversation; and few, it is betieved, of 
either sex (for his address to ladies was inimi- 
tably elegant and graceful) ever partook of 
his society without pleasure and adimiration, 
or quitted it without regret. His briiliant 
imegination, his various knowlecge, his 
aculeness, his goud taste, his wit, his dignity 
of sentiment, and Ins gentleness of manner 
(for he never was loud of intemperate) made 
him universaliy admired and respected. Te 
crown all these virtues and accomplishments, 
it may be added, that he fuifitled all the 
dut:es of tife, tne lesser as well as the great- 
est, with the most scrupulous attention ; and — 
was always particularly ardent in vindicating 
the cause of ‘oppresscd merit. | But his best 
evtogy is the general sentiment of sorrow 
which agitated every bosom on the sudden 
anid urexpceted stroke which terminated in 
During the nineteen days of his _ 
sickness, bis ha}] was daily visited by several 
hundred successive enquirers concerning the 
state of his hraith ; and that part of Pali- 
mall in which his house was situated, was 
thronged with carriages: filled with ladres, 
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