The Sun.
London, England, 1830-10-25 00:00:00

TILL LATE MR. lIUSKISSON.

The daily and periodical Press having given
publicity to several erroneous statements respect-
ing Mr. Huskisson, many of his friends have
been urgent for some more authentic account of
him. Time has not been afforded for arranging
any detailed memoir of this lamented Statesman,
but the following sketch, though hastily thrown
together, will be found to contain a correct out-
line of his life.

Mr. Huskisson's father, William, was the se-
cond son of William Huskisson, of Oxley, near
Wolverhampton. He married Elizabeth, daugh-
ter of John ltotton, Esq., of an old and re-
spectable family in &afibrdshire. On his mar-
riage he hired a residence and extensive farm at
Birch Moreton in Worcestershire ; and his eldest
son, the late William Huskisson, was born at
Birch Moreton Court, on the 11th of March,
1770. Mr. and Mrs. Huskisson bad three
other sons, and she died soon after giving birth
to the youngest, in 1774. Mr. Huskisson's
elder brother having also died about this time,
unmarried, he quitted Worcestershire, returning
to his father at Oxley, and, succeeding, to that
property, continued to reside upon It till his
death, in 1790.
At his mother's decease the late Mr. Hus-
kisson was not five years old, and he was placed
at an infant school at Brewood, in Staffordshire,
when older removed to Albrighton, and, lastly,
to Appleby, in Leicestershire, where he gave evi-
dent promise of the talents by which he has been
so eminently distinguished.
Mr. Huskisson's mother was niece to Dr.
Gem, a gentleman highly esteemed, as well for
his medical skill as for his other scientific and
literary acquirements. Ho had accompanied the
Duke of Bedford on the Embassy to France in
1762-3, and the society of the men of letters
with whom ho mixed, and the great facilities
which Paris then afforded for the researches of
science, decided 1)r. Gem to fix his residence in
that capital and its vicinity, paying occasional
visits to his friends in England, and to his small
family estate in Worcestershiro.l* Dr. Gem al-
* At his death in Ma, 1)r. Gem bequeathed this
estate to Mr. Huskisson, whom he also appointed his resi-
duary legatie.
ways felt great interest in the children of his
favourite niece, and having expressed a wish, in
consequence of the second marriage contracted
by Mr. Huskisson's father, that the two eldest
boys should be entrusted to his care, they
were permitted to accompany him on his return
to Paris, in 1783. The late Mr. Huskisson
was then between twelve and thirteen years old.
Dr. Gem attended most carefully to his educa-
tion, and, it has been said, wished to direct his
studies towards medical science; but, whatever
might have been the Doctor's wishes, it is per-
fectly certain that young. Huskisson never fol-
lowed, or had any inclination for, that profession,
nor was he ever clerk in any banking-house.
There was, indeed, no absolute necessity for his
adopting any profession, as the greater part of
the Staffordshire property was entailed upon him.
His mind, however, had received its impetus
from the events of the times. The struggle of
the American colonies resounded throughout
Europe, and was from well-known calves more
especially felt at Paris about the period of Mr.
Huskisson's first arrival there ; whilst the political
and financial discussions of the succeeding years
were calulated to produce powerful effects upon
his vigorous mind, and, as he grew older,
naturally created an enthusiasm for the success
of a cause, as yet unobscured by the contempla-
tion of the atrocities which followed. Mr. Hus-
kisson was present at the taking of the. Waite,
at which time he was nineteen, and it was about
that period that he became distinguished by his
speech at the " (lustre Vingt Neuf;" not the
Jacobin Club, to which he would never belong,
and which he never visited but once, merely as a
spectator, and in company with the late Mr.
Windham, the late Lord Chichester (then Mr. I
Pelham), and the present Sir John Thomas
Stanley, of Cheshire. His speech at the
" Quatre Vingt Neuf" is yet extai:t, and tes-
tifies for itself; but to those who have mot read
it, it is merely necessary to remark, that had its
arguments been Jseobinical, or Mr. Huskisson's
principles considered such, he would nut, so
soon afterwards, have received the offer of be-
coming secretary to the present Marquis of Star-
ford (then Lord Gower), the Ambassador at
Paris, -Dr. Gem wart known to Lord Gower,

btu, his nephew was first introduced to his Lord-
ship by Dr. \Varner, chaplain to the Embassy.
Dr. Warner was a friend of Dr. Getn, and had
thus become acquainted with the promising
talents and pleasing manners of young uskis-
son, and having mentioned him in terms of high
commendation to Lord Gower, his Lordship de-
si►ed that he should be presented to him.
Thus began Mr. Huskisson's acquaintance
with Lonl Gower and Lady Sutherland,
who from that time to the day of his death,
a period of forty years, continued to honour him
with their friendship and confidence, whilst he
never ceased to hold in grateful remembrance
that kindness which had encouraged the early
efforts of his mind and talents.

On being appointed Private Secretary to Lord
Goweri Mr. Iluskisson occupied apartments in
the Ambassador's Hotel, and became a member
of the family, Upon the return of Lord Gower
to England in 1792, Mr. llnskisson accom-
panied hp, and continued to pass the greatest
part of his time with his Lordship, and in his
society. Soon afkr Mr. Dundas expressed to
Lord Gower his wish to select some gentleman
of abilities, who perfectly understood the French
language, in order to assist in the projected ar-
rangement of an office for the a:riirs of the emi-
grants, who had taken refuge in Eug!aud. Lord
Gower immediately mentioned Mr. flokiasOn
as being highly qualified for the situation, wltieli
Mr. Dundas then offered, and he accepted eat
in 1793.

The stirring scenes which he had witnessed,
and the great expansion of his mind, had un-
fitted him for following the example of the former
members • of his family, who had for so many
yeart, tot; !,ell upon their OM/ property, and he
felt disinclined to the quiet life of a country
gentleman. the' father had been obliged to
alienate a considerable part of his property, in
order to make provision for his younger children
(of whom he kft eight i;,,/ his two marriages),
and his eldest son inherited only the entailed
property at Oxley ; the Ittrioinii;s lands and the
advo Neon of the parish of Bturbbm r having been
directed to be sohL This circumstsoce, and
some others foreign to the purpose of this
memoir, induced Mr. Iluekisson to take mea-
sures for cutting off the entail, to sell his Is'nded
property, and to devote himself to official life.
Mr. Pitt and Mr. Dundas were well qualified
to judge of Mr. Huskisson's talents and sapacity
for business, and he enjoyed their friendship
high estimation to the end of their lives. In
1194 Mr. Nepean was removed to the Admi-
ralty, and Mt. fluskisson succeeded him its
Under-Secretary of State in the Colonial De-
pirtment, then held by Mr. Dundas. On the
retirement of Messrs. Pitt and Dundas in 1801,
Mr. Huskisson resigned his situation. On their
return to Government in 1804 he was appointed
one of the secretaries of • the • Treasury, where
he remained till the death of Mr. Pitt
in 1806. In 1807 he returned to the
same office, Mr. Canning having been Appointed
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, .and
1809, when that gentleman quitted the Govern-
ment, Mr. H. followed him, and did not again
accept office till Mr. Canning was appointed to
the embassy to Portugal in 1814, when Mr.
Huskisson became First Commissioner of Woods
and Land Revenue. lie remained in that situ-
ation till 1823, when he succeeded Mr. Robin-
son (now Lord Goderich) in the offices of
Treasurer of the Navy and President of the
Board of Trade, and was shortly after called to
a seat in the Cabinet. On the death of Mr. Can-
ning and the formation of Lord Goderich's ad-
ministration, Mr. Huskisson again succeeded
his Lordship, and became Secretary of State for
the Colonial Department, the seals of which he
held till the appointment of Sir George Murray
in May, 1828.
Mr. Huskisson was first returned to Parlia-
ment for Norfolk in 1796. At the general
election in 1802 he stood a contest for Dover,
which be lost, and was not again in Parliament
till his return for Liskard iii 1804. He sat
again for that place in 1806, and on the disso-
lution of Parliament in the following year, be-
came Member for Harwich. In 1812 he was
chosen, on the independent interest, for Chi-
chester, and represented that city till 1823, when
he consented to quit it in order to succeed Mr.
Canning at Liverpool.
Mr. Huskisson held for some years the colo-
nial agency for the island of Ceylon, but in
1823, considering it incompatible with his
other situntions, he relinquished the office.
In 1799 Mr. Huskisson married the youngest
(laughter of the late Admiral Milbanke, but has
left no family.

It is not intended on the present Occasion to
enter into extended details of his public or
private life. His commercial measures are be-
fore the world, and even those who have
not been converted to his liberal views of
policy admit the integrity of his inten-
tion : whilst no higher testimony can be offered
to his private worth than the almost universal
regret and sorrow manifested for his loss. The
energies of his powerful mind were not subdued
under the agonizing sufferings of his closing
hours, and the clearness and sell-possession with
which he performed the last duties of a man and
a christian, excited the astonishment and admi-
ration of all who surrounded him at that awful
moment. Those who knew him most can best
bear testimony to the perfect truth and sincerity
of hii dying declaration that he exl'ired at
peace with all mankind."
_ _

Mr. Huskisson's long acquaintance with the
Duke of Wellington, and the recollection which
he retained of several kind offices received from
him, had always kept alive in Mr. Huskisson's
mind, notwithstanding the political misunder-
standings which had arisen between them, sen-
timents of private regard towards his Grace,
which made him most ready to follow the Duke's
example in continuing towards each other the
usual courtesies of society. Upon the occasion
of the Duke of Wellington's visit to Liverpool,
when be was to receive the freedom of that
town, voted, to him many years since for his
transcendent military services, Mr. Huskisson
naturally felt that, from his connection with
Liverpool, he was more especially called upon
to pay. to his Grace every mark of respect and
attention, and, actuated by these feelings, he was
induced to go in front of the car to alias hands
with the Duke of Wellington, at the time when
a pause had occurred in the procession of time
carriages on the Railway. His return into the
car was thereby delayed, and to this delay is to
be attributed the fatal accident which caused his
death.

That such only were his feelings, prompted by
no irolitical motives, his intimate friends will
perfectly understand, for »sore than one of them
well know his determination not again to accept
office tinder the Duke of Wellington. It rs
proper to state that to Mr. Huskisson himself,
his Grace had never made the slightest overture
for any political reconciliation since 1828.