The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-11-28 00:00:00

DEATH OF LORD MELBOURNE

Intelligence reached London on Friday night of the
death of Lord Melbourne. His lordship expired at ten
minutes after six o'clock on Friday evening, at Brocket-
hall, Herts, and was conscious up to the last moment, the
following relations being present at his dissolution :
Viscount and Viscountess Palmerston, Lord and Lady
Beauvale, the Hon. Mrs. George Lamb, and Miss Cuyler.

The noble deceased had been attacked about three weeks
or a month since, by what was considered a bilious com-
plaint, and was for some days attended by his ordinary
medical adviser, Mr. Thomas, of Hatfield ; but symptoms
having betrayed themselves of rather an alarming appear-
ance, Dr. Holland was sent for from London on the 10th
instant : and after that eminent physician's making two or
three professional visits to Brocket, he informed the mem-
bers of the noble viscount's family of his fears that his
lordship's illness would prove fatal, although the noble
patient might linger for some weeks.
William Lamb, Viscount Melbourne, was descended
from an old Hertfordshire family. which was raised to the
order of nobility in the person of his father, Sir Peniston
Lamb. William was born in March, 1779, and suc-
ceeded to the peerage in 1828. In 1805 he married Lady
Caroline Ponsonby, daughter of the third Lord Besbo-
rough ; but in the course of a few years they were sepa-
rated. Lady Caroline Lamb, remembered for her accom-
plishments, her fascinations, and her admiration of Lord
Byron, died in 1828 ; and was soon followed by her only
eon.- - -

After the separation Lord Melbourne led a bachelor kind
of life, his free and easy demeanour probably occasioning
exaggerated notions as to his personal conduct. In 1836
he was the defendant in an action brought against him by
the husband of Mrs. Norton. The merits of the case were
never thoroughly understood, and some of the strongest
evidence against the defendant was of so base a character
that it tended to create more iidignation than conviction,
and the action failed. _

Lord Melbourne's public career has been too familiarly
known to need further retrospect in this place than a brief
memorandum of dates, for the convenience of the reader's
memory. William Lamb was educated at Trinity College,
Cambridge; studied politics and jurisprudence under Pro..
fessor Miller, at Glasgow ; and was called to the bar as a
member of Lincoln's-inn in 1804, but never attained dis-
tinction as a law-student. He was a staunch admirer of
Fox : but the force of character consisted of. that strength
which is shown in repose rather than action ; hence his
moderation and inclination to the juste-milieu in politics.
The deceased entered the House of Commons in 1805,
and supported Fox, accepted office as chief secretary for
Ireland under Canning, in 1827 ; left the Duke of Wel-
lington's administration on the East Retford question ;
was home secretary under Lord Grey in 1830, (the period
of the Calthorpe-st. riots and the Dorchester labourers :)
became premier in 1834, when the Grey ministry was
broken up by the Irish Church question ; returned to the
premiership after Sir Robert Peel's brief attempt at admi-
nistration in April, 1835, and nominally held it till Sep-
tember, 1841. Since that time his health and political
activity visibly declined, and for some years he had disap-
peared from public life.
The Times concludes a long biography of his lordship as
follows :—" He was indolent—he might have been cor-
rupt. He was a man of easy virtue—he might have been
a reckless profligate. He co-operated with Mr. O'Con-
nell, but ho had grace enough left to be ashamed of the
alliance. He was lavish of titles but he did not quite
swamp the House of Lords."
The late viscount is succeded by his brother, Lord Beau-
vale, the late ambassador at the Court of Vienna. Vis-
countess Palmerston was the only sister of the deceased.

vv
The families of the Earl and Countess Cowper, Viscount
and Viscountess Jocelyn, Lord and Lady Ashley, the Earl
of Besborough, Viscount and Viscountess Palmerston,
Lord de Manley, the Earl Fitzwilliam, the lion. Mrs.
Lamb, &c., are placed in mourning by the demise of the
noble viscount.