Second
Earl of
Guilford, and eighth
Baron North, statesman; born in
England, April 13, 1733; educated at
Eton and at Trinity College,
Cambridge, he made a lengthened tour on the Continent.
In 1754 he entered Parliament for
Banbury, which he represented almost thirty years; and entered the cabinet under
Pitt, in 1759, as commissioner of the treasury.
He warmly supported the Stamp Act (1764-65) and the right of Parliament to tax the colonies.
In 1766 he was appointed paymaster of the forces, and the next year was made chancellor of the exchequer, succeeding
Charles Townshend as leader of the House of Commons.
He became prime minister in 1770, and he held that post during the
American Revolutionary War. In February, 1775, Lord North received information from
Benjamin Franklin (q. v.), which greatly disheartened him, and he dreaded a war with the colonists which his encouragement of the
King's obstinacy was provoking, and, armed with the
King's consent in writing, he proposed, in the House of Commons, a plan for conciliation.
It was on the general plan, if the colonies would tax themselves to the satisfaction of the ministry, Parliament would impose on them no duties except for the regulation of commerce.
“Whether any colony will come in on these terms I know not,” said
North, “but it is just and humane to give them the option.
If one consents, a link of the great chain is broken.
If not, it will convince men of the justice and humanity at home, and that in
America they mean to throw off all dependence.”
This yielding of Parliament to the colonies could not be tolerated by the ultra ministerial party, and a wild storm of opposition ensued; but Lord North, with the assistance of the
King, finally subdued it, and the Commons consented.
When
Vergennes, the
French minister for foreign affairs, heard of these proceedings, he said, “Now, more than ever, is the time for us to keep our eyes wide open,” for the French Court had resolved to promote the quarrel until the colonists should
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become independent, and so weaken the
British Empire by dismemberment.
In 1783 Lord North returned to office, after a brief absence, as joint secretary
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Lord North. |
of state in the famous “coalition” ministry, and at the close of that brief-lived administration he retired from public life.
In 1790 he succeeded to the title of
Earl of
Guilford.
It is said that, in his old age, Lord North often became low-spirited on account of his having yielded his conscience to the will of the
King, and remaining in the administration after he became satisfied that the war was unjust, and that peace ought to be made with the
Americans.
This thought disturbed him more than did his blindness.
He died in
London, Aug. 5, 1792.
