Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 9.djvu/528

 496 FOX House of Commons was delivered in defence of the ministry and iti opposition to seating John Wilkes as member for Middlesex. He at once made his mark as a parliamentary speaker, recalling to some members the best traits of Charles Townshend and the elder Pitt. His father, delighted at the success achieved by his favourite son, communicated his satisfaction to his acquaintances, and wrote to one of them that he had been told Charles had spoken extremely well : &quot; It was all off-hand, all argumentative, in reply to Mr Burke and Mr Wedderburn, and excessively well indeed. I hear it spoken of by everybody as a most extraordinary thing, and I am, you see, not a little pleased with it.&quot; Fox had his reward by being appointed a lord of the admiralty im mediately after attaining his majority, and when Lord North had succeeded the duke of Grafton as prime minister. Two years afterwards he resigned, on account of a misunder standing with his chief and a determination to oppose the lloyal Marriage Bill, which the ministry introduced out of deference to George III., and about which the king wrote to Lord North : &quot; I do expect every nerve to be strained to carry the Bill through both Houses with a becoming firmness, for it is not a question that immediately relates to administration, but personally to myself; therefore I have a right to expect a hearty support from every one in my service, and shall remember defaulters.&quot; Fox not only opposed this bill, which was framed to discourage members of the royal family from marrying, and to throw artificial obstacles in their way should they desire to make love matches, but he also introduced a bill to amend Lord Hardwicke s Act, &quot; For the better preventing of Clandestine Marriages,&quot; which his father had virulently opposed. This conduct, which gave great offence to George III., was the origin of that implacable enmity to his great subject which ever after prevailed in the royal breast, to the detriment alike of the throne and the country. In introducing his bill Fox is said by Horace Walpole to have spoken &quot;with ease, grace, and clearness&quot;; he effectively answered Edmund Burke and Lord North who opposed it, ridiculing the arguments of the former and con futing those of the latter, &quot;with a shrewdness that, from its multiplicity of reasons, as much exceeded his father in embracing all the arguments of his antagonists as he did in his manner and delivery.&quot; This was doubly agreeable to his father, who had formed a clandestine marriage, and who thought such an Act as Lord Hardwicke s a slur upon himself. The attempt of his son failed, though he had the triumph of beating the ministry by a majority of one on a motion for leave to introduce the bill. After being a year out of office, he became reconciled to Lord North, and re-entered the administration as a junior lord of the treasury. But he soon reasserted his independence, differing from Lord North on a question of procedure, and causing the defeat of the ministry in the House of Commons by pressing an unwelcome motion to a division. The king was incensed at what he styled Charles Fox s presumption, adding, in a letter to the premier, &quot; Indeed, that young man has so thoroughly cast off every principle of common honour and honesty that he must become as contemptible as he is odious; and I hope you will let him know you are not insensible of his conduct towards you.&quot; Lord North, acting in conformity with the king s suggestion, wrote as follows to Fox : &quot; Sir, his Majesty has thought proper to order a new commission of the treasury to be made out, in which I do not see your name.&quot; Thus ended the first stage of Fox s political career. A year later he avowed in the House of Commons that &quot; the greatest folly of his life was in having supported Lord North.&quot; He was chargeable with follies of another kind. Among the young men of the day he was conspicuous for staking money at play and making bets on horse races. Sometimes he won bets made at Newmarket, but he almost invariably lost larger sums in a gaming club at Almack s, where the stakes were 50, and where as much as 10,000 was on the table at a time. Lord Holland advanced 40,000 to pay his debts, but, this did not suffice, and he became the dupe of a Mrs Grieve, who, on the pretext of introducing him to a Miss Phipps, a West Indian heiress, obtained money from him. His reputation stood so low in public estimation that, according to Horace Walpole, it was commonly supposed he had been dismissed by Lord North for robbing the treasury. In 1774 Fox began that opposition to the ill-advised and ill-fated measures of Lord North which gave him a place among the greatest of orators and the most prescient of statesmen. He lost both his parents in that year, and his brother Stephen, second Lord Holland, soon followed them to the grave, leaving behind him the boy whom Fox treated with almost paternal fondness and care, whose memory j as third Lord Holland is held in kindly remembrance, and who, with characteristic modesty, considered it his chief glory to have been the nephew of Fox and friend of Grey. Soon after Fox entered the ranks of the Oppo sition he became its acknowledged chief. This rapid advancement was largely due to the lessons in practical politics taught him by Edmund Burke, whose acquaintance he had made in early life. The story of his career from 1774, when he left Lord North s administration, to 1782, when Lord North resigned and when he became secretary of state in the second Bockinghaui administration, is asso ciated with the unsparing and brilliant opposition of the Whig party to the war which ended with the ratification of the independence of the Thirteen United Colonies of America. An important episode during that period was his election as member for the city of Westminster. On the 2d of February 1780, a meeting in favour of parlia mentary reform was held in Westminster Hall, at which such leading members of the AYhig party were present as the duke of Portland, Earl Temple, John Wilkes, General Burgoyne, Alderman Sawbridge, Edmund Burke, and over which Fox presided. He delivered a stirring speech in favour of a redress of grievances, and in particular of a reform in the representation of the people. After it had been resolved that a petition to that effect should be pre sented to parliament, it was proposed and carried by accla mation that Fox, &quot; the Man of the People, &quot; should become a candidate to represent Westminster in the House of Commons, and before the year closed he was a member for the constituency which he represented till the end of his life. A little more than a century had then elapsed since Sir Stephen Fox, his grandfather, had been first returned for the city of Westminster. George III. encouraged the opposition to the election of the &quot; Man of the People,&quot; of whom he wrote that &quot; Fox never had any principle, and can therefore act as his interest may guide him.&quot; Eight thousand pounds were contributed out of the civil list to promote the success of Lord Lincoln, the favourite of the court, yet neither corrupt expenditure nor royal disapproval sufficed to hinder the triumph of Fox. As secretary of state in the ministry of the Marquis of Rockingham, and leader of the House of Commons, Fox displayed great business aptitude and capacity for conciliation. A short time before he became minister, Horace Walpole wrote to Sir Horace Mann : &quot; Mr Fox is the first figure in all the places I have mentioned, the hero in parliament, at the gaming-table, at Newmarket.&quot; After he became minister, the same writer informed his correspondent &quot; Mr Fox already shines as greatly in place as he did in opposition, though infinitely more difficult a task. He is now as indefatigable as he was idle. He has perfect temper, and not only good humour but good nature, and,