Page:History and characteristics of Bishop Auckland.djvu/104

 mSTORT OF 3ISH0P AUOKLAKD. 79 Davidson, Esq., by whom he had five sons and two daughters. Bobert, the second son, was created a baronet on the 10th September, 1776, and was also Governor of Maryknd.* The third son was elevated to the peerage of Ireland first, and subsequently to that of England, as Baron Auckland. The Eight Hon. William Eden, Baron Auckland, of West Auckland, County of Durham, was educated at Eton, became a student of Christ's Church, Oxford, in 1763, and, in 1769, was called to the bar in the Middle Templa In 1772, he published his "Principles of Penal Law," and was appointed Under Secretary of State, a post which he retained for six years. In 1774, he was returned M.P. for Woodstock, and continued a member of the House of Commons till 1793. He married, in 1776, Eleanor, youngest daughter of the Eight Honourable Sir Gilbert Elliott, Bart, of Minto. Early in his parliamentary career, Mr. Eden began to take a distinguished part in the proceedings of the House, and introduced several important measurea In 1778, he went to America as one of the five commissioners deputed to visit the colonies, for the purpose of reconciling their differences with the mother country ; but, on the failure of their negotiations, he returned to England in January, 1779. In November following, he published four letters, addressed to the Earl of Carlisle, on the spirit of party, on the circumstances of the war, on the means of raising the supplies, and on the representation of Ireland respecting a free trade — ^aU of which attracted attention, and excited discussion. In 1780, when the Earl of Carlisle was invested with the vice-royalty of Ireland, Mr. Eden accompanied him as Chief Secretary, and was, soon afterwards, sworn of the Privy Coimcil of Ireland, and elected a member of its Parliament. Amongst the many useful measures accomplished during his administration, not the least important was the establishment of a national bank. In April, 1783, he was sworn of the Privy Council in England, and appointed vice-treasurer in Ireland, which office he resigned in December following. In 1785, he was nominated one of the Lords of the Committee of Council for trade and plantations, and sent as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of Versailles. In this situation his consummate abilities as a man of business, and his intimate knowledge of British commerce and manufactures, and the true interests of both, enabled him to conclude two commercial treaties with France, both highly advantageous to his own country ; and a treaty which he conducted, for preventing disputes between the subjects of the two Crowns in India, put an end to the claims so often previously set up by France against the British right of sovereignty in the East, and annihilated, as far as the most solemn compact can have that effect, every question, dispute, or challenge of that right, which could in future be brought forward. In 1787, he was employed at Versailles on the subject of the American reifolution, and, in the following year, went as Ambassador Extraordinary to Spain. Having been elevated to the Irish Peerage, on November 18th, 1789, he was sent as Ambassador to the States of Holland, when he took an active part in the events of the period. In May, 1793, he was promoted to the dignity of a British Peer, and relinquished his diplomatic employment, as a reward for which a pension of £2,300 per annum was settled upon him. He still continued, however, to exert his abilities in the Legislature, as well as through the mediimi of the press. On the death of the Earl of Mansfield, in 1796, Lord Auckland was chosen Chancellor of Marischal CoUege, Aberdeen ; and, in 1798, appointed to the oflBce«of Joint Postmaster-General, which he held to the end of Mr. Pitt's administration, in 1801. He was an auditor and director of Greenwich Hospital, and recorder of Grantham. In consequence of his firequent foreign employments, in which he was always accompanied by his Lady, it was said of Lord Auckland that he had children bom to him ia all parts of the world. Jn. fact, his eldest son, William Frederick, was bom in London; George (who succeeded to the title and estates), in Kent; Henry, at Paris; George Charles William Frederick, at the Hague; Eleanor (Countess of eldest aon. Sir Frederick Eden. This gentleman was an officer in the army, and fell at New Orleans in 1814 Dying nnmarried, the title devolved upon his brother, WilUiun, the present baronet ; and who^ also* on the death of Sir Robert Johnson Eden, Bart^ •oooeeded, in 18H to the Windlestone estates. Digitized by Google
 * He died in 1786, and wm racoeeded by his eldest son. Sir Frederick Morton Eden, who died in 1809, and waa snooeeded by hia