the second son of the first earl of Shelburne, and was born in

1737. He was descended on the father's side from the ancient and illustrious family of the Fitzmaurices, earls of Kerry; and through the female line he inherited the name and the large fortune of the well known financier, Sir William Petty. At an early age he entered the army, and served with great distinction in the British contingent under Prince Ferdinand in Germany, and was present at the battles of Kampen and Minden. At the accession of George III., in 1760, he was appointed aid-de-camp to the king, with the rank of colonel, and in 1765 was elevated to the rank of major-general. He was elected member for the borough of Wycombe in 1761, but held that seat only for a few weeks, as on the death of his father on the 10th of May, he succeeded to the earldom of Shelburne in the Irish, and the barony of Wycombe in the English peerage. He soon attracted notice by his close attention to the business of the house, and his ability in debate. In 1762 he defended the government of Lord Bute in the discussion on the preliminaries of peace; and when that nobleman retired from office and was succeeded by George Grenville, Lord Shelburne, though not yet twenty-six, was placed at the head of the board of trade, and sworn of the privy council. He incurred the dislike of the king, however, in consequence of his opposition to the plans proposed for taxing the American colonies, and coercing them into submission. He became estranged too from his imperious, wrongheaded, and obstinate chief; and on the admission of the Bedford party his lordship resigned his office, and attached himself to the person and the principles of the elder Pitt. In 1766 when the great commoner, now become Earl of Chatham, formed his second administration, Lord Shelburne at the age of twenty-nine was made a member of the cabinet; and as his knowledge of foreign affairs was both extensive and profound, he was appointed secretary of state, with the charge of the southern department, which included the colonies. He immediately set about the preparation of conciliatory measures calculated to regain the confidence and good-will of the Americans. But his policy was distasteful both to the king and to some of the most influential of his colleagues; and as soon as Chatham's illness prevented his taking any active part in the management of affairs, Shelburne had the mortification, not only to see his proposals rejected by the cabinet, but the disastrous import duties act—which the chancellor of the exchequer, the volatile Charles Townshend, had brought forward—adopted by the government, and passed into law. The alienation between Shelburne and the duke of Grafton (who was now premier in reality, as he had from the first been in name) grew wider and wider. "Instigations to remove Lord Shelburne," says his grace, "fell daily from the king," and at length in October, 1768, the duke dismissed the secretary from his post—a step which was immediately followed by Lord Chatham's resignation of the privy seal. Out of office. Lord Shelburne offered a strenuous resistance to the measures of Lord North, and especially to his colonial policy, though like his leader he strongly disapproved of the idea of American independence. In consequence of his advocacy of economical reform, he became obnoxious to the court, and was challenged, and wounded in a duel with Colonel Fullarton, who resented in this way some expressions used by the earl in the house of lords. It was insinuated at the time that Shelburne's zeal in behalf of economy and against the war, had caused him to be thus singled out for vengeance by the retainers of the government. On the downfall of Lord North's ministry, the king with a very bad grace sent for Lord Shelburne, and empowed him to form an administration. The earl went straight to the marquis of Rockingham, and offered him the treasury and premiership. "My lord," he said, "you could stand without me; I cannot stand without you." The marquis was disposed to decline, because the king had not sent for him in person; but after consulting his friends, he agreed to accept the office of premier, and Lord Shelburne and Mr. Fox became the principal secretaries of state. (See Rockingham.) The government was dissolved in three months, by the death of Lord Rockingham; but the mutual jealousies and ill-will of the two secretaries would in any case have led very soon to its modification or dissolution. Fox distrusted Lord Shelburne, and the earl strongly disliked his brilliant colleague. The former complained, probably with some truth, that Lord Shelburne was clandestinely employed by the king to intrigue against the negotiation for a general peace, and for the recognition of the independence of America which Fox was conducting in the name of the government; while Lord Shelburne regarded negotiations with America as clearly within his own province. The whig section of the cabinet recommended the duke of Portland for the vacant office of premier; but the king, who detested the great whig houses, appointed Lord Shelburne as first lord of the treasury, partly because he knew that the earl cordially sympathized with his own hatred of Fox, but mainly because he wished to govern by the exercise of his prerogative, without regard to either of the great parties in the state. Fox and his friends irritated at this manœuvre, and having been refused permission to nominate one of their adherents to the vacant secretaryship of state, which they regarded as necessary to preserve the balance of parties in the cabinet, immediately tendered their resignations, and opposed with great acrimony the measures of the new premier. (See North, Lord, and Pitt, William.) Shelburne's administration lasted little more than seven months; but during that brief period the siege of Gibraltar was brought to a triumphant termination, the British fleet under Howe and Rodney obtained brilliant victories over the French, and an honourable treaty was negotiated with the continental powers and the American colonies. The government was defeated on the question of the approval of the peace, in February, 1783, by the notorious coalition between Fox and Lord North; and Lord Shelburne finally retired from office. On the overthrow of the coalition ministry in the following year, his lordship was not included in the administration formed by Mr. Pitt, to whom, however, he gave a steady and useful support, though he felt deep anger against the king, who he always considered had not only wronged, but deceived him. He accepted in 1784, not without great reluctance, the marquisate of Lansdowne, but he was peculiarly careful to show that his political independence was not compromised by his acceptance of the honours which rewarded his former services. With the exception of occasional speeches on the regency and other important questions, he took no prominent part in public affairs during the remainder of his life. He was strongly opposed to the war with France, and frequently insisted on the duty of the administration to make proposals of peace to the revolutionary government. His lordship died on the 2nd of May, 1805. Lord Shelburne was twice married. His eldest son by his first wife succeeded him as second marquis of Lansdowne; but he died shortly after, and the family titles and estates devolved on his half-brother, the late venerated marquis, who for nearly sixty years occupied a place in the foremost rank of English statesmen. Lord Shelburne possessed many eminent qualifications for the management of public affairs. His person was prepossessing, though marred by an overstrained politeness. He was a deep and original thinker, as well as assiduous and prompt in attention to business. He had an extensive and profound knowledge of foreign affairs, and held larger and clearer views of commerce than any public man of his day. He was a warm and zealous disciple of Adam Smith, and was the first practical statesman who lent his authority to the principles enunciated by that philosopher. As a debater Lord Shelburne, in the opinion of Lord Camden, had no superior in the house of lords except Chatham. He spoke with great animation and rapidity; and his language, though generally unstudied, was felicitously eloquent. "He was," says Lord Holland, "a great master of irony, and no man ever expressed bitter scorn for his opponent with more art and effect." "He was munificent and friendly," says the same writer, "even to a fault." He had great discernment in discovering the talents of inferiors, was a zealous and active friend, and was highly esteemed in private life. On the other hand it must be admitted, that he was proud, unaccommodating, and unforgiving; that he often failed in tact, and lacked the art to conciliate opponents and recover friends whom he had estranged. In his own day he laboured under the reproach of insincerity, and was nicknamed Malagrida, from a plotting Portuguese jesuit of that name. The imputation was undeserved, for he was in reality an honest man; but he was wanting in frankness, and he did not always disdain to employ stratagems against those who he thought were trying to overreach him. Burke remarks, and with justice, that Shelburne was whimsical and suspicious; and both morally and intellectually he was eccentric and unequal. He was the friend of Jeremy Bentham and other men of talent and learning. His library was one of the finest ever formed in this country by a private individual; and his valuable collection of MSS. was purchased after his death for the British museum at a cost of nearly £5000.—J. T.