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GRE was virtually put to rest for more than a generation. Mr. Grey did not again take part in the discussions in the house until 1799, when he delivered one of his ablest speeches against Mr. Pitt's propositions for a union with Ireland. In January, 1806, Mr. Pitt died, and a whig ministry ("All the Talents") was in consequence formed under Lord Grenville. Mr. Grey, now become Lord Howick, was appointed first lord of the admiralty, and on the death of Mr. Fox in October following, he succeeded that statesman in the foreign office, and as leader of the house of commons. The ministry was dismissed in March, 1807, inconsequence of their attempt to remove some of the existing Roman catholic disabilities, but not before Lord Howick had carried through the house of commons the memorable act for the abolition of the slave trade. In November following, on the death of his father, Lord Howick became Earl Grey, and conjointly with Lord Grenville led the opposition in the house of lords. Repeated overtures were made to these distinguished statesmen to join the administration in 1809 and 1810; and after the tragical death of Mr. Perceval in May, 1812, they were requested by the prince regent to undertake the formation of a new ministry, but on each occasion the offers were unhesitatingly rejected. During the next eighteen years Earl Grey was the recognized chief of the whig party, and strenuously opposed the policy of the government, especially their coercive measures, their conduct in regard to the Manchester massacre, and their bill of pains and penalties against Queen Caroline. Through every stage of the conflict to which the trial of the queen gave rise, Grey stood forth as the champion of the unhappy princess, debating questions of law, cross-examining witnesses with almost professional skill, and directing the thunders of his declamation at one time against the king, at another against the ministry, who had lent themselves to the gratification of his majesty's vindictive feelings. He approved of the recognition of the South American republics and of the commercial policy of Mr. Huskisson; but he attacked Mr. Canning when he became prime minister in 1827, though the great body of the whigs in parliament gave him their support, and criticised with great severity the policy of that brilliant and dexterous rather than sound and consistent minister, whose declaration of unqualified opposition to reform Lord Grey especially condemned; and he supported the duke of Wellington's unpopular amendment on the ministerial corn bill, declaring that if a contest should take place between the house of lords and the people, he should stand or fall with his order—a resolution which he speedily found it necessary to modify. The period was now approaching when he was to see the long-cherished principles—for the sake of which he had been content to spend upwards of forty years in the cold shade of opposition—carried triumphantly into effect. The repeal of the test act and of the Romish disabilities, and the impulse given by the second French revolution prepared the way for the reform of the representative system; and on the downfall of the Wellington ministry in 1830, Earl Grey was sent for by King William IV., and requested to form an administration. The new cabinet, which was composed of nearly all the leading whigs with a few moderate tones, took for its motto—peace, retrenchment, and reform. "All that I professed in opposition," said the premier, "I now purpose to accomplish when I am in power," and it must be admitted that on the whole he fulfilled his pledge. A bill for the reform of parliament was accordingly brought forward, 1st March, 1831. A history of this measure will be given under another head.—(See .) Suffice it to say here, that when, on the 7th of May, 1832, Lord Lyndhurst carried a motion against the government which placed the reform bill in jeopardy, and King William refused to give them power to create a sufficient number of peers to carry the measure, if this should be necessary, the ministry resigned. But after a perilous interregnum of ten days, during which the country trembled on the verge of revolution. Earl Grey returned to office with full powers to carry out his bill, which accordingly passed the house of lords on the 4th of June, and three days afterwards received the royal assent. The first meeting of the reformed parliament took place on the 29th of January, 1833. The emancipation of the slaves in the British colonies, the abolition of the East India Company's monopoly, the reform of the Irish church and of the English poor law, were its earliest and most important measures. But the ministry was meanwhile shaken by personal differences and by the secession of four of its most active members—Lord Stanley, Sir James Graham, Lord Ripon, and the duke of Richmond; and some misunderstandings having arisen among the remainder respecting the renewal of the Irish coercion bill, Earl Grey resigned his office 9th July, 1834. For a year or two he occasionally attended the house of lords, but the remainder of his long and honourable life was for the most part spent in retirement, surrounded by his numerous family, and in the enjoyment of "honour, love, troops of friends," and the general respect of his countrymen. He died at Howick hall, Northumberland, on the 17th July, 1845, in the eighty-second year of his age, leaving a reputation for unblemished honour, integrity, and consistency, second to that of no English statesman in ancient or modern times. In private Lord Grey was gentle, courteous, and self-denying; but it was alleged that in public he was cold, reserved, and haughty. His personal appearance was stately and commanding; and he had a flexible and sonorous voice, a graceful and animated delivery, and a dignified yet unaffected manner. He married in 1794 Mary Elizabeth, only daughter of Lord Ponsonby, and had by her eight sons and five daughters.—J. T.  * GREY,, Right Hon., an English statesman, son of the late Sir George Grey, resident commissioner of Portsmouth dockyard, and nephew of the second Earl Grey, was born in 1799. He was educated at Oriel college, Oxford, where he was first class in classics in 1821 and took the degree of M.A. in 1824; was called to the bar at Lincoln's inn in 1826, and entered the house of commons in 1832 as member for Devonport. He was appointed under-secretary for the colonies in July, 1834, but quitted office in November on the dismissal of the Melbourne administration. On the overthrow of Sir Robert Peel's government in April, 1835, Sir George resumed his former office, which he held till 1839, when he became judge-advocate-general, and subsequently chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster. On the formation of Lord John Russell's administration in July, 1846, Sir George was appointed home secretary—an office which he held till February, 1852. In June, 1854, he became secretary for the colonies; in February following he was again appointed home secretary, till March, 1858. In June, 1859, he resumed the office of chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, which he still holds. He sat for North Northumberland from 1847 to 1852, when he lost his seat, but was soon after returned for Morpeth, which he at present represents. Sir George is a fluent speaker and a most efficient minister; and is highly esteemed both by his friends and his opponents.—J. T.  * GREY,, K.C.B., an adventurous explorer and distinguished colonial administrator, was born in Ireland in 1812. Having completed with honour his studies at the Royal military college, and attained to the rank of lieutenant, he in 1836, in conjunction with Lieutenant Lushington, addressed a letter to Lord Glenelg, then secretary of state for the colonies, containing the offer to conduct an expedition to explore the western coast of Australia from Swan River northward. The offer was accepted with modifications, and the result was a series of expeditions in the years 1837, 1838, and 1839, in which numberless perils and distresses were manfully encountered and overcome, and which served at least to show the admirable courage and readiness of the leader. In an unfortunate skirmish with the natives Mr. Grey was badly wounded in the hip with a spear. In 1841 an account of the expeditions was published under the title of "Journal of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-west and Western Australia." Captain Grey had now made himself a man of mark; and when, in 1841, the experiment at colonizing South Australia had well-nigh proved a failure, he was appointed to supersede Colonel Gawler, and commence a system of rigorous retrenchment in the expenditure. He fully justified the opinion that had been formed of him, and only quitted this post in 1846 for a more difficult one, the governorship of New Zealand then disturbed by a war between the aborigines and the colonists. The better to understand the duties before him in this colony. Sir George Grey, who had been knighted in 1848, studied the language and the legends of the Maori people, and was thus enabled to give to the world in 1855 a work entitled "Polynesian Mythology and Ancient Traditional History of the New Zealand Race, as furnished by their priests and chiefs." In 1854 Sir George was appointed governor of the Cape of Good Hope, an office which he still retains, and where he is not only distinguished for his good government, but applies himself to the study of African ethnology. He has made a valuable collection of illustrations of that subject, and has printed privately a catalogue of the collection.—R. H.  * GREY,, third earl, eldest son of the great 