Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/368

 360 FOX the second duke of Richmond, and by her he was descended from Charles II. of England and Henry IV. of France. It is said that his father, when he was about 14, having taken him to Spa, gave him five guineas a night to play with ; the source, perhaps, of his invin- cible attachment to gaining. He studied at Wandsworth and Eton, where he impressed his schoolfellows with a conviction of his su- periority. From Eton he went in 1764 to Ox- ford. Here he gamed, studied, and spent pro- fusely the lavish allowance given him by his father. He read Homer and Longinus, and gained a good knowledge of Greek. In later years he was able to repeat long passages from Homer. Leaving Oxford without gradu- ating, he went to the continent in 1766. Du- ring his residence abroad he taught himself Italian, and contracted a partiality for Italian literature which lasted through his life. In August, 1768, he returned to England, where he had been elected to parliament in his ab- sence, while yet under age. He took his seat as a supporter of the duke of Grafton's minis- try, following the political faith of his father, and made his first speech in the house April 15, 1769. In February, 1770, he was made a junior lord of the admiralty, but resigned in 1772. In January, 1773, he was made one of the lords of the treasury, but came into col- lision with the premier, and was dismissed Feb. 28, 1774. After his father^ death Fox joined the opposition, and was an eloquent assailant of the leading measures of the minis- try. He foretold the defeat of the British arms in America, and stood by Edmund Burke in the struggle against the policy of Lord North. In the beginning of 1780 Burke brought forward his plan of economical re- form, which was zealously supported by Fox ; this was rejected by the house, but resolutions were passed for an inquiry into the public expenditure. Fox supported Pitt's motion for parliamentary reform in May, 1782, and introduced a measure of concession to Ireland. When the ministry of Lord North fell in this year, Fox was made secretary for foreign affairs, and undertook to secure peace with the hostile powers, and the recognition of the indepen- dence of the United States. The negotiations were interrupted by the death of the marquis of Rockingham, the prime minister ; and when Lord Shelburne took the head of the ministry, Burke, Fox, and several of their associates re- signed. In April, 1783, Fox came again into power as foreign secretary in the coalition which he had made with his former enemy, Lord North, and on account of which much odium was cast upon him. On Nov. 18 he in- troduced his bill designed to relieve the suffer- ings of India, which he pressed with his usual warmth, and aided by Burke it passed the commons ; but the lords, the crown, and the India company being against him, the coalition fell, and the ministry were dismissed, Dec. 18. On resolutions introduced by Fox, there was a decided majority against the new ministry, and parliament was dissolved. Fox stood for Westminster, against the whole influence of the court and ministry, and was declared elected by a large majority ; but the unsuc- cessful candidate demanded a scrutiny of the vote, and the high bailiff took upon himself to make no return of representatives for the city. The returns being delayed for about a year, Fox entered parliament for a Scotch borough. The high bailiff was afterward fined 2,000. Fox finally triumphed, and the na- tion was now divided into two parties, that of Fox and that of the king. On April 22, 1788, Fox opened the Benares charge against War- ren Hastings, in whose impeachment he aided Burke and Windham. When in 1788 George III. became insane, Pitt advocated the appoint- ment of a regent by parliament, but Fox main- tained the right of the prince of Wales, after- ward George IV., as indefeasible. The recov- ery of the king ended the discussion for the timfe. Fox moved, March 2, 1790, the repeal of the corporation and test acts. A lack of sympathy on this subject, as well as in regard to the principles of the French revolution, arose between him and Burke, and led to their formal separation, May 6, 1791. Fox was in earnest sympathy with liberal principles, and in 1791 aided Wilberforce in his efforts to abolish the slave trade. He introduced a bill defining the powers of juries in trials for libel, which was passed in April, 1792. In 1793 he supported Grey's motion for parliamentary re- form, and soon became a leader of the reform party. This party was in a hopeless minority, and finding his opposition in the house of com- mons useless, he ceased to attend its sessions in 1797 ; and in 1798 he was struck from the list of privy councillors for having repeated the duke of Norfolk's toast, "The majesty of the people." From 1797 to 1802 he passed his time chfefly in retirement. He planned an edition of Dryden, a defence of Racine and the French stage, a refutation of the historical theories of Hume, and a history of the revo- lution of 1688/ His researches for this last work took him to Paris in 1802, and while there he was treated by Napoleon with marked distinction. Only a portion of the proposed history of the revolution of 1688 was ever written; it is chiefly notable from the fact that Fox would not use any word which had not been used by Dryden. Returning to par- liament, he united with Pitt against the Ad- dington ministry, but upon its fall, when Pitt wished to form a new ministry, Fox was ex- pressly excluded by the king, and Pitt was obliged to make his selections from the subor- dinates of his predecessor. This ministry was dissolved by Pitt's death, Jan. 23, 1806, and Fox became secretary for foreign affairs in the new ministry formed by Lord Grenville. Du- ring his short service of only seven months, Fox procured a vote in the commons for the abolition of the slave trade, and entered into