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THE

UNIVERSAL MAGAZINE.

No. XIX.-VOL. III.]

For JUNE, 1805.

[NEW SERIES.

A

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

OF

SAMUEL of the people he became an obsequious WHITBREAD, ESQ. MEMBER FOR BED- tool of the oligarchy which predomi

FORD.

THE

nated in this country: he entered into HE English nation has long been all its measures, and opposition was noted for credulity, and notwith- gradually reduced to such a state of instanding the impositions which have significance, that a farther depression been repeatedly detected, a cry is easily was deprecated by the ruling party. raised, and before the treachery is dis- The peace which followed the unsuccovered, its authors carry on their pur- cessful attempt to reduce the colonies poses with impunity. In no period of to an obedience to a parliament, in our history have these practices been which they were not represented, was pursued with greater ardour and with accompanied with the return of comgreater success, than under the long merce, and to the youthful minister administration of the present premier. were ascribed benefits in which he had The burdens, which were annually im- no concern, and which no minister, posed upon the subject, however they however depraved he might have been, might impoverish one class of the peo- could have prevented. The premier had ple, tended to attach more strongly cried out loudly for reform: to satisfy another to his measures, and so many the nation something must be done, and were gainers by the most wasteful ex- leaving the great objects of universal penditure that ever was known in any desire, he seized upon the finances as a country, that it was easy to give cur- fine subject for his declamation, and a rency to any report for the day, and to point in which he was under no apprepreach up a confidence, which cannot hension of detection. Millions were to be placed but with fraudulent intentions be saved by the nation: its debt was to in any human being. The pen of a fu- be paid off: plenty was to crown_the ture historian will record these facts to cottage of the peasant, and all these the astonishment of posterity. It will gifts in embryo were ascribed to the scarcely gain credit that under a consti- heavenly minister. In vain did cooler tution like ours, such flagrant abuses heads express their fears of the consecould prevail; and the next generation, instructed in the tricks played upon the credulity of their fathers, will be upon their guard against similar deceptions, There are circumstances also to mitigate in some degree, the censures on our conduct, which must at times escape the lips of our children.

quences of so much confidence: too many were interested in it, and party motives were ascribed to every one, who did not fail in with the prevailing delusion.

The explosion expocted by every one acquainted with the continen', took place in France. It was a subject to At the close of the American war the exercise the talents of a red statesinan, nation grew indignant at the measures but what was to be expected from a which had been pursued, and the ine- boy taken from college to be placed in vitable consequence in the loss of our Lincoln's Inn; and who, after a few colonies. Its eyes were opened to the terms spent in that pistinum of genius, abuses which prevailed in every depart- unexpectedly found in his hands the ment of government, and it was eager reins of government. To him the hisfor a reform. A youthful champion tory of France was unknown: diplo appeared, in whom seemed to be re- macy he had not studied vived the eloquence and spirit of his re- the House of Commons was the extent vered father. In the measures, for of his politics, and thrown into such which the country loudly called, he connections, with every one to prey took the lead, was raised in consequence upon his ignorance, he could not possi to the highest post, and dizzy at the bly acquire an extensive knowledge of height which he had thus attained, he mankind. The French revolution was forgot or betrayed those to whom he too vast a field for his contracted optics: owed his elevation. From a supporter and embarking in it without knowledge VOL III

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to manage

of the state of parties in France, or the strength and ability of continental allies, he became the dupe of every power on the continent, and of every intriguant which the republic vomited from its shores.

country abroad, had the resolution and courage to enter upon a much severer contest, and to attack the domestic enemy, a much more dangerous enemy to the happiness of a country. In the course of an active life, from the time The war with France displayed the of entering the service till he became extent of the premier's capacity, which first lord of the admiralty, Lord St. Vinwas seen in his negotiations with Jews, cent had witnessed the abuses that had and contractors, loan-jobbers and bank- prevailed in the naval department: and directors. The resemblance of money now, like another Hercules, he stept was coined in profusion, the finances forward determined to cleanse the Auwere prosperous, and this was mistaken gean stable. The resistance made was for the prosperity of the nation, as if natural: every one engaged in peculathe diminishing of the property of each tion, every one interested in lucrative individual could add to the prosperity of jobs, every one who wished to turn his the whole. It is not to be wondered at place into a sinecure, all who had enrichthat this species of prosperity should be ed themselves, or were in the way to a favorite theme with the tools of ad- enrich themselves by the plunder of the ministration, for they were enriched by public, were his enemies. The papers the immense sums which circulated teemed with abuse on the gallant admi through their hands. Among those ral, who still sailed a direct course, and who had joined, apparently with the, a universal panic seized the agents of greatest eagerness, in Mr. Pitt's finan- corruption. Through his means an act cial plans of reform, was Mr. Dundas, of parliament was passed for a commit. his most intimate friend and colleague, tee of naval inquiry, and the commis now Lord Viscount Melville. No one sioners under this act diligently em was thought more conversant in the ployed themselves in pursuing the inves managing of a House of Commons: In- tigation into the various abuses and dia was under his direction; and from their sources in different branches of the the influence, arising from such a situ- naval department. In the course of ation, he became as it were, and was this inquiry, they were led from less to even stiled, the lord of Scotland. Offices more flagrant abuses, and at last it arose were heaped upon him without end; to those who had held the highest offand, had it not been his interest to be ces in the state, and the conduct of the the second in administration, he might two colleagues Mr. Pitt and Lord Melhave vied in power and consequence ville was involved in suspicion. Matters with his principal. So firm seemed they pressed, and a change of administration both in their seats, that nothing could became necessary. Mr. Pitt urged it in shake them; the people might be aston- the House of Commons, and Lord Melished at the increase of their burdens, ville travelled in haste, with his proxies, and in every district see fortunes raised from Scotland. The easy Addington upon their expenditure: yet all inquiry was thrown with contempt from his was nugatory, and the two heads of ad- seat, and Lord Melville, obtaining the ministration might flatter themselves object of his wishes, hoped, at the head and not without reason, that no one of the admiralty, to put a stop to those would be hardy enough to attempt, or inquiries which had created in his mind if he were, have power to explore the so much uneasiness. labyrinth of their financial arrange

ments.

Time, however, produced what the most sanguine wishes could not have expected. A change of administration took place, and the new one was treated by the two colleagues, now in opposition, with the utmost contempt, as a mass of ignorance and imbecility. For tunately for the country, in this supposed mass of ignorance and imbecility was a noble admiral, one of the greatest honours of the English flag, who, having valiantly fought the enemies of his

But unhappily for him, and happily for the country, the blow was struck, and it could not be recalled. The commissioners did their duty with firmness and integrity. The rank of the delinquent did not screen him, and both he and his agent sheltered themselves under the provisions of the act, to avoid the necessary consequences of a plain and explicit avowal of their conduct. The tenth report of the commission, which will ever be renowned in English his tory, was brought into the House of Commons, was ordered to be printed,

At this critical moment the country was not without a supporter of its rights, and in the House of Commons was an individual, formed as it were by nature, for the arduous task to be accomplished. The notice given by Mr. Whitbread, that he should move the House to take into consideration the conduct of Lord Melville, as exhibited in the tenth report of the naval commissioners, was hailed by every independent man as an auspicious omen, and received by the country with universal applause. The name of Whitbread is well known in the annals of benevolence; and, if the poet is right, that when a person stands forward on a great public question,

and the country which had heard only noble and elevated mind, a mind inindirect allusions to the guilt of the de- dependent of its station in life; and linquent, was astonished at the clear- which, whether abounding in wealth ness of the statement and the manner or oppressed by poverty can, both by in which it had been detected. To ob- example and precept, form to virtuous tain justice for the country was, how energy a rising character. A son who éver, a most arduous task. The delin- has received from his father the gift of quent was first lord of the admiralty, an excellent education, will, though it his colleague first lord of the treasury. was unaccompanied by those of forThe attack on one was an attack on tune, on which the world sets the most both, and it required firmness, resolu- value, ever bless his memory; and if tion, courage, independence and inte- on looking round a spacious domain grity to enter into a conflict in which he can add, these were the acquisitions nothing would be spared by the defen- of a parent ever attentive to my weldants to preserve themselves from de- fare, and never forgetful of that of struction, and by the weight of num- others, whose honourable industry, bers and the influence of authority to virtue, and talents were crowned with overwhelm their adversary. success, and whose prosperity did not narrow his heart, but enlarged only his power and his wish to indulge in benevolent actions, such a son will not want for musty rolls of parchment to confer honour on his name, but delights in looking up to his father, as an everpleasing incitement to proceed in the paths of virtue, integrity,and patriotism. The family of Mr. Whitbread's father was little superior to that which gave in the last century a chancellor to England, and an earldom to the Hardwicke family, and in so doing mixed the blood of the shopkeepers of Dover with that of the chief families of the united kingdom. His father lived at the Barns at Cardington in Bedfordshire, and the son, after the usual education for business, was sent to London, and qualified himself in the situation of an apprentice, for his future extensive concerns. The life of a man in trade, who is pursuing the path to wealth, cannot be expected to furnish many anecdotes, and some great The pride or the contempt of ancestry establishment must bring him forward is equally worthy of ridicule. In Eng- to the notice of the public. His rise land we appreciate descent with tole- in the world was seen in the erecting rable justice, and no one hesitates to of the brewery in Chiswell-street, an set a St. Vincent or a Nelson, who first establishment at the time, far superior ennobled their families, above the peer to any England had ever witnessed, and who has no merit in himself and claims in which such care had been taken in our attention only for similar actions, every department, that it still remains performed by a remote ancestor. If a monument of superior skill and indusesteem is to follow parentage, assuredly try, and is not surpassed even now by the nearer one is in the line of descent those which have adopted the latest to him who is most worthy of esteem in that line, the greater must be the value which we should fix to the descent of an individual, and the praise of a father adds to and receives lustre from the praise of a son. This sentiment is deeply impresssed on all who have had that real advantage of birth, to derive their origin from a man of a

Quo patre sit natus, Omnes mortales curare et quærere cogit. his pretensions from birth, parentage, and education are called for, no one can produce them with greater propriety to a well-formed mind than the member for Bedford.

improvements. In this situation he accumulated a large fortune; public estik mation gave it in the round sum of a million at least, but in nothing is the public more deceived than in those cal culations, and a landed property may be very extensive, when the proprietary derives little advantage from its rente?! The fortune was large enough to set

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