Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 17.djvu/191

Eliot the American war, but in March 1776 he voted against the employment of the Hessian troops, and resigned his position at the board of trade. Gibbon, like his patron in politics, supported the Tory ministry at first, and continued to vote with them until the dissolution in 1781, when 'Mr. Eliot was deeply engaged in the measures of opposition, and the electors of Liskeard are commonly of the same opinion as Mr. Eliot.' Seven letters from Gibbon to Eliot, two of which are in defence of his parliamentary conduct, are at Port Eliot (Hist. MSS. Comm. 1st Rep. . 41). It is mentioned in Hansard's 'Parl. Hist.' XX. 621, to Eliot's credit, that when it was proposed to vest in the two universities the sole right of printing almanacks, Carnan, a bookseller, petitioned against the measure, and Erskine spoke in support of the petition with such success that although Eliot had come up from Cornwall at the request of the chancellor of Oxford University to support the bill, he was converted to the opposite side through Erskine's arguments, and publicly acknowledged it in the lobby. The manor of Charlton in Kent came to him through his descent from Craggs in 1765, and on 15 April 1789 he assumed by sign-manual the name and arms of that family. He died at Port Eliot 17 Feb. 1804, and his wife died on 23 Feb. They were both buried at St. Germans on 1 March. The Eliots were among the earliest patrons of Reynolds, and Lord Eliot was 'one of Sir Joshua's most familiar and valued friends,' to whom he sat for his portrait in March 1781 and January 1782, and by whom Lady Eliot's portrait, a kit-cat, was painted in January 1786. He belonged to the Literary Club, and several of his sayings are recorded in 'Boswell.' He brought under Johnson's notice the account of Lord Peterborough in Captain Carleton's 'Memoirs,' and the introduction was repaid with the remark: 'I did not think a young lord could have mentioned to me a book in English history that was not known to me.' Bentham described him as 'a modest, civil, good kind of man, sensible enough, but without those pretensions which one would expect to find in a man whose station in his country is so commanding and political influence so great. He is modest enough in his conversation about politics, but desponding. He says he scarce ever looks into a paper, nor does he, for fear of ill news.' Several of his letters are among the manuscripts of Lord Lansdowne (Hist. MSS. Comm. 6th Rep. p. 238).

 ELIOT, EDWARD GRANVILLE, third  (1798–1877), diplomatist, was the only son of William, second earl of St. Germans, by his first wife, Lady Georgiana Augusta Leveson-Gower, fourt daughter of the first Marquis of Stafford. He was born 29 Aug. 1798, was educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford, and was created honorary LL.D. of Dublin in 1843. In January 1824 Lord Eliot, by which name he was known till 1845, entered parliament as member for Liskeard, which borough he continued to represent until the passing of the Reform Bill in 1832. Canning appointed him lord of the treasury in his brief administration of 1827. He had been appointed secretaiy of legation at Madrid in 1823, and at Lisbon in 1824 (, Baronage), In 1834 he was sent to Spain as envoy extraordinary. The Carlist war was then raging, and Eliot concluded an agreement with the two belligerent forces, by which prisoners on both sides were to be treated according to the laws of civilised war. This treaty, known as the 'Eliot Convention,' effectually put an end to the sanguinary system of reprisals. Within a month of the conclusion of the treaty it was the means of saving the lives of more than six hundred of the royalist troops. The populace of Madrid was furious, believing that it might be the commencement of a policy 'to protocolise' Spain in the manner of Belgium. Upon his return to England in 1837 Eliot was returned to parliament for East Cornwall, which he continued to represent until 1845. England having permitted Spain to enlist soldiers within her territories, Eliot moved an address in the House of Commons in 1838, condemning the policy which had been sanctioned by Lord Palmerston. His speech was much applauded, but the motion was defeated on a division taken by surprise. In 1841 Eliot, who was a moderate whig in politics, was appointed by Sir Robert Peel chief secretary for Ireland, then in a very disturbed state. Eliot in the session of 1843 introduced an arms bill, which required the registration of firearms, and restricted the importation of arms and ammunition. The measure was obstinately contested at every stage, but eventually became