Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 49.djvu/235

 Cuffnells rather than in London. He opposed the proposals to alter the corn laws in a weighty speech on 5 May. While declaring that free trade in corn would be equally mischievous to the grower and consumer, he contended that a protecting duty should not be greater than would enable the grower to pay a fair rent and make a reasonable profit (Parl. Debates, xxvii. 666). On the other hand, he took an unpopular line in advocating the property tax. He did much, specially in 1815, to forward the foundation of savings banks, and promoted legislation securing the property of friendly societies.

He died at Cuffnells on 13 Jan. 1818, in his seventy-fourth year, and was buried in Christchurch minster. He left children by his wife Theodora, daughter of John Dues of the island of Antigua, his elder son being Sir [q. v.], and his younger [q. v.]

Rose was a man of high personal character, amiable, and benevolent; an indefatigable, accurate, and rapid worker, with a clear and sound judgment; and, though he was not brilliant in other matters, his financial ability was remarkable. His opponents accused him of double dealing, and a political satire asserts that

(Probationary Odes, p. 351), but in truth he was by no means deficient in honour or sincerity. As secretary of the treasury he dispensed government patronage so as to offend as few of the disappointed claimants; as possible (, Memoirs, iii. 457-8). The profits that he and his sons derived from various offices were large; Cobbett dwells on them in a brilliant letter entitled 'A New Year's Gift to Old George Rose,' and dated 1 Jan. 1817; he reckons 4,324l. salary as treasurer of the navy, 4,946l., as clerk of parliaments, a post secured to his elder son, 400l. as keeper of the records (a sinecure), and 2,137l. as clerk of the exchequer, a sinecure resigned in favour of his younger son (Selections from Cobbetfs Political Works, v. 72). And Thomas Moore, in an imitation of Horace (Odes, i. 38), makes the poet bid his boy not tarry to inquire 'at which of his places old Rose is delaying' (, Works, p. 171). While, however, he was not backward in promoting the interests of himself and his sons, unlike many of the placemen of his day, he conscientiously rendered valuable services to the nation. He seems to have imbibed something of the patriotic sentiments of his great leader; was always confident as to England's future, even in the darkest days, and was invariably optimistic in his financial reviews and anticipations. As a speaker he was dull and somewhat prolix, but his speeches were too full of carefully prepared and accurately stated calculations to be easily answered. His writings, which are for the most part on financial subjects, are clear and businesslike. In 1804 he was appointed a trustee of the British Museum, and was also a trustee of the Hunterian Museum, and an elder brother of Trinity House. It is believed that he had much to do with the origin of the ministerial whitebait dinner. His friend Sir Robert Preston, member for Dover in the parliament of 1784, was in the habit of asking him to dine with him at the 'fishing cottage' at Dagenham Reach, Essex, towards the end of the parliamentary session. One year Rose asked leave to bring Pitt, to whom Preston thenceforward extended his invitation. The distance from London being inconvenient to Pitt, Preston held his annual dinner at Greenwich, generally on or about Trinity Monday, and Pitt brought first Lord Camden and then Charles Long (afterwards Lord Farnborough). When the company grew in number the guests paid each his share of the tavern bill, and after Preston's death the dinner soon assumed its future character (, Clubs and Club Life, pp. 495-6). Rose's portrait, painted in 1802 by Sir William Beechey, is in the National Portrait Gallery; another, painted by Cosway, is engraved in his 'Diaries and Correspondence,' and there is also an engraving, with a biographical notice, in the 'Picture Gallery of Contemporary Portraits' (Cadell and Davies).

Rose's published works are:
 * 1) 'The Proposed System of Trade with Ireland explained,' 8vo, 1785, which called forth answers.
 * 2) 'A Brief Examination into the Increase of the Revenue, Commerce, and Manufactures of Great Britain since the Peace in 1783,' 8vo, 1793; and
 * 3) 'A Brief Examination, &c., from 1792 to 1799,' 8vo. 1799. Both these works passed through several editions; the second through at least seven, besides one printed at Dublin; it was translated into French, and called forth replies. The edition of 1806 contains a sketch of Pitt's character.
 * 4) 'Considerations on the Debt of the Civil List,' 8vo, 1802.
 * 5) 'Observations on the Poor Laws,' 4to, 1802.
 * 6) 'Observations on the Historical Work of the late C. J. Fox,' 4to, 1809. Rose's criticisms were founded on the contemporary authorities left him by Lord Marchmont, which were published by his son, Sir  [q. v.], as the