Star.
London, England, 1830-10-30 00:00:00

LITTRAIIY REVIZW.

It is not often that we presutucto trouble our readers with critical remarks
on productions in the r toe Arcs, bee tuse *taste tor diem is thought to be
a matter of difficult acquirement ; aril we do not pretend to have COO-
centvattd our attention to that e nor do we incline to meetly ail
supposed deficiency by, what is eaten done, ringing the chimes of
quackery on a certain set of indeti. to technical, or technicellyetoking
phrases. We are, however, not sure, that there is any such my ettv Co'.l
cealed wider the word terVe as is gencraliy supposed, and we believe a little
Icommon sense, and accurate observation, applied to the ezazniiiatites of
objects is the fine arts,as they are whimsically termed, is quite adequate
to enable a petson to distinguish merit where it really exists in any con-
spicuous degree. We feel ourselves therefore emboldened, now and
then, to venture an opinion ; and a number which Is just before us
of the •• National Portrait Gallery of illustrious and eminent
personages of the nineteenth cantury," is, v. e coureive, of a
character to warrant one introdncteg it to our reader.' attention.
The work is one which, by those who indulge 111 adding to their
libraries the luxuries of literature, cement, we think. he begrudged
—for the plates are executed in the tau.: carved and masterly manner,
from di. finest otiginal paintings; are thee, of than, accomelieed by a
biograpoiced sketch. way cest 3s. We believe never before was such a
display 'f die graphic arts of this country ever inade at such a prie'.
Tho letter-press, of which it is ns: e cur province te judge, has
for its author the well-informed, aed able Editor of tee
Liietery Gazelle; and that our reedars may judge a little
of the undertaking, we shall extract the Life f Tend Goderich—a
man, the facts of whale public life at the ermine ncentent of a new Par.
'lament, in which, as the head of a party to the present State !',.line
of this country, lie may be expected to becele • leominent, will we Jeeps
have sufficient interest to apologize for its length. In fact we had ce-
dearound to cut it down ; but in the Preerwaw ensatetien, we relent td ;
and therefore we give it entire.
THE RIGHT HON. FREDERICK JOHN ROBINSON,
VISCOUNT tie tie ER
The Right Hon. Lord Ooderich war burr Nov. Ito, 1732; he was
educated at Sunbury, at Harrow, end et Canetridee. On the Ist of
September, 1814, h.. married Lady Sarah Ilob.rt, only daughter of
Rohert, Larl of Buck:pi:helmets:: ; Ante with his lady, has sine- h:-
horited the landed Koreny of that nobleman. His lordship ha, had
three children ; the tirse a daughtet, bent May 22, 1815, who dice at
the intneeting age of eleven years, on the 31st October, 1828 ; second,
a 11011, born 10 Septeinuer, 1816. and who survived three days;
third, a son, horn October '24, 1827, now living
From this doeiestic summary we pass to the public tercet of the
node Lord— t cateer of unused variety and importance, and bcariee
upon tunes of such national difficulty and danger, as even the proce
portentous cisme) e.t.a hardly, we trust, be expected to revive.
Mr. Itobinsuiee first connexion with public life was in 1804, when ha
acted as private secretary to his rahtieni. Lied Hardwicke, then Lord
Lieutenant of Ireland. lie quitted Ireland when that nobleman wee
recalled, after Mr. Pitt's death, at the conan, ncement of IBOG, and
came into Parliament for the first time, upon the dissolution which tee!:
place in the autumn of that yea-. He then sat for the norough of C:,;.
low. When Parliament was diteolved el the spring of 1307, he was
returned for Ripon, which place he contieitiod to represent for tweeir
successive years. Jr. the summer oe that year, he accompanied Lord
Pembroke upon a special mission to Visnes, acid returned to England
with that nobleman in the following stimuli. Up to the year 1809,
Mr. Robinson took little part in the debates in Parliament; but he
supported the new government formed under the Duke of Portland, et
1:47, stating it to be his opinitm that the change was rendered neck,
sary by the course which the previous adminisuation had pursued o.
their communicatioes with George the Third upon the subject of eto
Catholic question. At the commencement of the session of 1809, Mr.
Robinson moved the address, aid on doing so expressed in the strongesi
manner his conviction of the necessity of a vigorous prosecution of die
war in Spain ; the attack upon which couney by Buonaparte he trey
characterised as being as unjust in its design, as it was perfidious in its
execution. In the spring of the same year he was appointed Und.r
Secretary of State, by Lord Castlereagh, who then held the seals of tee
Colonial and War Department; and wheu that noble Lord quitted
office in the subsequent September, upon occasion of the unhappy
t.repces in the Cabinet, which terminated in a duel between his Lore.
ship and Mr. Canning, Mr. Robinson felt himself bound in honour
to retire at the game time, although we have reason to believe that lie
was most strongly urged by Mr. Perceval, then at the head of the Go.
vernment, either to retain his office as Under Secretary of State, or to
accept of a seat at the Board of Treasury or Admiralty. Although,
however, he felt himself compelled by a sense of duty to decline
these offers, he did not take part in the formidable opposition by
which Mr. l'erceval's government was assailed, upon the opening tit
the session of 1810. We find him, on the contrary, strenuous'
supporting the proposition of the Government to grant an anoui•y
of 20001. to the Duke of Wellington, in consideration of his eminent
services in the preceding campaign, which some individuals then ei
Parliament greatly undervalued, and endeavoured to depreciate. In the
summer of that year, his near relation, Mr. Charles Yorke, was ap-
pointed First Lord of the Admiralty ; and at his request, and with the
entire concurrence and approbation of Lord Castlereagh, Mr. Robinson
accepted a seat at that board. He remained in that situation till 1812.
when, upon the lamentable death of Mr. Perceval, and the mention of
Lord Liverpool to the head of the government, he became a member of
the Privy Council, and was appointed Vice-President of the Board of
Trade, upon the resignation of Mr. Rose.° At that time, no salary
was attached to the office of Vice-President, and Mr. Robinson became
one of the Lords of the Treasury, which he subsequently gave up, upon
being made Joint Paymaster of the Forces. The latter situation war
soon after abolished, and a regular salary was assigned to the Vice-Pre-
sident of the Board of Trade. Mr. Robinson held that post till the
commencement of 1818; and upon the death of Mr. Ron, and the re-
signation of Lord Clancarty, he succeeded the latter as President of the
Board of Trade, and the former u Treasurer of the Navy : the neces-
sity of holding the two offices at the same tints, being occasioned by the
circumstance of there bring no salary whatever attached to the higher
office of President, although one had been assigned by act of Parliament
to the inferior post of Vice-President. He became also at the same time a
member of the Cabinet. He discharged the duties of the important and
responsible post of President of the Board of Trade for six years; ant
at the commencement of 1823, his late Majesty was graciously pleased,
upon the retirement of Lord Bexley, to appoint him to the more ordu.
ous and distinguished situation of Chancellor of the Exchequer.
When Mr. Canning was appointed to the bead of the government in
1827, he necessarily took the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer, in
conjunction with that of First Lord of the Treasury ; Mr. Robinson
was then honoured with the dignity of the peerage, by the title of Vis.
coma Goderich, which had been borne by his maternal ancestor, the last
Duke of Kent,of the family of Grey ;and the seals of the Colonial Office
were, at the same time, placed in his hands. Upon the death of Mr.
Canning, in August 1827, the late King conferred upon Lord Gederish
the elevated station of First Lord of the Treasury, which he held for a
few months only, under circumstances of no ordinary theiculty, and re-
signed in the month of January, 1828.
It thus appears, that during eighteen years Lord Goderich filled va.
rious situations in public life, sonic of which were of great importance,
and connected with the highest interests of the state ; and although it
would he going far beyond the scope and object of the present litogra.
phical sketch, if we were to enter into any detailed consideration of tnc
mode in which lie fulfilled the various duties which devolved upon bine
eve nevertheless think, that we should not do him justice, if we omitted
altogether to advert to it. He was connected with the Board of Trade
for upwards of ten years; and although, in the first instance, the Earl
of Clancarty discharged the duties of President, that Nobleman, we
believe, ceased to attend the Board after the month of November, 141:1.
being appointed Ambassador to Holland, so that for four yeas the
whole business of the department fell upon Lord &deficit as Vies.
President, although at that dine lie was not a member of the Cabinet.
The extraordinary duration and peculiar character of the war, which ter.
initiated in 1814, had placed all the commercial reel:ions of this
country in so perplexed a situation, that the restoration of peaa. did no:
offer any immediate means of determining what ought to be the pee.
ciao nature of the regulations under which they should thertetter
be carried on. Our currency was in a very unsatisfactory state,
and Parliament had not, as yet, piorainiecal any thing like a
definitive °pink° upon its future condition. Our taxes in every branch
were enormously high ; and, as Lord Gotlerireh has correctly repressed
it upon more than one occasion, hail unavuelebly been imposed rather
to meet an immediate fiscal necessie, than adopted from any prole e.
dye consideration of the consequences to which such heavy burden,
might ultin.ately Iced. The prise of every tiling, whether intended ter
home er foreign consumption, was thus, by the combined opeiatier, of a
depreciated currency and an excessive rate of taxation, unnaturally h:gh.
In the mean time, and under these circumstances, it was not to he ex.
p, cud that the trade of the world. which had long been cramped, re -
Ntricttd, end distorted, by the inevitable effects of Roonapartes nee'.
nental system and of our retaliatory licy, during the Lot yews of the
was, could at once revert to a natural and healthy state. Many ht w :t,-
terms had grown up; many new prejudices had apparently lete
gendered, and many old ono; confirmed : and even if it had been I sri.
ble to see at one glance what ought to be the course of our policy, to
one could pretend to say what might be the views or principles et'
o.her countries in similar circumstances. But we think we are t reithd
to state, judging by the sentiments expressed and the course pursued
by Lord Goderich, even at an early period after the final cessatior. of
the war, that he was satisfied that the real policy would be to break as
soon as possible through the trammels of restriction. and above all, of
prohibition, which had so long existed, and from which, but for the ie.
terveneun of the French revolutionary war, there is now no MAIN test
Mt. Pitt would have departed.
The first great question which Mr. Robinson, as Vice. President err
the Board of Trade, submitted to Parliament, was the Corn hill of
1818: at that time he was not a member of the cabinet, aad may theft-
! fore be considerd as having acted au executive rather than a delibuative
part, in proposing that measure t but in opening the subject, he nuts
to have studiously avoided taking up the extravagant and high ground
upon which many persona, active supporters of restrictive corn laws,
were desirous of placing the general policy of agricultural protection :
and nothing could manifest more strongly how little he was ittsported

• is the Wow of len, Mr. Robintol accompinied Loyd Cloak-
s's* to rho CWES*, ood,thus became per.onally cognisant of all tbe
lotwootiog mod poor wrests which terminated to she oventwoe of rue.
soporteo power.