SADLER, John, descended from an ancient family in Shropshire, was born in 1615, and educated at Cambridge, where he became eminent for his great knowledge in the oriental languages. He removed to Lincoln’s Inn, where he made great progress in the study of the law; and in 1644 he was admitted one of the masters in chancery, as also one of the two masters of requests. In 1649 he was chosen town-clerk of London, and the same year he published his Rights of the Kingdom. He was greatly esteemed by Oliver Cromwell, by whose special warrant he was continued a master in chancery, when their number was reduced to six. By his interest it was that the Jews obtained the privilege of building for themselves a synagogue in London. In 1658 he was made member of parliament for Yarmouth, and next year was appointed first commissioner under the great seal with Mr Taylor, Mr Whitelocke, and others, for the probate of wills. In 1660 he published his Olbia; and soon after the Restoration he lost all his employments. In the fire of London in 1666 he was a great sufferer, which obliged him to retire to his seat of Warm-well in Dorsetshire, where he lived in a private manner until 1674, when he died.

Sadler, Michael Thomas, was born at Snelstone, a village in Derbyshire, in January 1780. He was descended, on the father’s side, from Sir Ralph Sadler, one of Queen Elizabeth’s ministers; and his mother’s family had been French refugees at the revocation of the edict of Nantes. He was educated principally at home, his father having intended him for one of the learned professions; but, when about eighteen years old, he was induced to join his brother in business at Leeds, where he continued until called into public life by the ministerial proposal of the Catholic Relief Bill. On a vacancy occurring for the borough of Newark, in March 1829, Mr Sadler, being invited to become a candidate, immediately complied, and triumphantly carried his election, though opposed by Mr Sergeant Wilde, one of the most able and energetic members of the bar. Mr Sadler distinguished himself by a long and eloquent speech delivered against the Roman Catholic claims on the 17th of the same month; and during the continuance of the discussion he was the great champion of the Protestant cause. At the general election of 1830, he was again chosen for Newark, and in 1831 he took his seat for Aldborough in Yorkshire. At the first general election under the Reform Bill, Aldborough having been disfranchised, he became a candidate for the new borough of Leeds; but, though highly[7:19:609] esteemed by a large number of his townsmen, his reputation as an anti-reformer preponderated over his less equivocal merits, and he lost his election.

In his public career Mr Sadler was generally associated with the old constitutional Tories. We have already mentioned his strenuous opposition to the Roman Catholic Relief Bill. To the policy of free trade he was also most decidedly hostile; nor was he less unfriendly to the settlement of the currency question, which he considered should have been effected upon a more equitable adjustment. Mr Sadler was likewise very hostile to the Reform Bill, to which he recorded his objections in a speech when seconding General Gascoigne’s motion, the effect of carrying which was the dissolution of parliament. For Ireland he always expressed the deepest interest, and twice introduced a poor-law bill for that country into parliament. During the last session he sat in parliament, he was almost constantly occupied in prosecuting the bill he had brought before the legislature for the protection of children employed in the manufactories, and which is familiarly called the Ten Hours Bill. This measure was referred to a select committee, of which Mr Sadler was appointed chairman; and it is believed that the fatigue and responsibility thus imposed on him, of collecting the mass of evidence contained in the report, laid the foundation of his long and fatal illness. Neither, after all, were his efforts successful in passing this measure.

Mr Sadler was some years a member of the Royal Society, and author of several works, the most important of which are, 1. Ireland, its Evils, and their Remedies; and, 2. An Essay on the Law of Population, in two volumes, written principally to controvert the opinions of Mr Malthus. A third volume, intended to complete this treatise, the author was engaged upon at the time of his death, which took place at New Lodge, near Belfast, on the 29th of July 1835. Mr Sadler’s disease appears to have been an incurable affection of the heart, brought on by severe study and intense anxiety. At the time of his death, he was the leading partner of the firm of Sadler, Fenton, and Company, of Belfast. (a.)