constituencies, Callington and Thetford, he had acquired full possession. Firmly opposed to the existence of any restrictions on commerce between nations, he was especially antagonistic to the ‘system of hostility recommended and practised towards the commerce of America’ by the English orders in council, and warmly supported Brougham in his struggles for their repeal. His ‘Inquiry into the Causes and Consequences of the Orders in Council’ went through two editions. With the nation's desire for parliamentary reform the owner of two boroughs could have little sympathy; he opposed the reform bill of Lord Grey's ministry in all its stages; and when the ministry was defeated in the House of Lords on an adverse proposal from Lord Lyndhurst, Mr. Baring consented, after much hesitation, to take the office of chancellor of the exchequer in the cabinet which the Duke of Wellington was attempting to form. An angry scene in the Commons and the indignation of the people convinced him of the hopelessness of the enterprise, and it was his proposition that the ex-ministers should resume their seats and be allowed to carry their bill. In Sir Robert Peel's first administration (1834) he was president of the board of trade, as well as master of the mint, and on the dissolution of the ministry he was raised to the peerage (10 April 1835) as Baron Ashburton, a title which he selected because Dunning, the celebrated lawyer, who had married his aunt, had previously assumed it. When differences arose as to the boundary between the United States and the territories of Great Britain, Lord Ashburton was sent to America as the English commissioner, and a treaty, known as the Ashburton treaty, was concluded at Washington in 1842. Daniel Webster praised him highly as ‘a good man to deal with, who could see that there were two sides to a question;’ and Lord Ashburton and his suite are said to have ‘spread a social charm over Washington, and filled everybody with friendly feelings towards England.’ The free-trade policy of Peel he regarded with alarm—a circumstance which his detractors contrasted with his opinions in early life, and attributed to his large land purchases—and he resisted the Bank Charter Act of 1844, discussing the question in his pamphlet, ‘Financial and Commercial Crisis considered.’ Like several other members of his family, he patronised art, and formed a fine collection of pictures. He was one of the trustees of the British Museum and of the National Gallery. He died at Longleat, the seat of his grandson the Marquis of Bath, 13 May 1848, having had issue five sons and four daughters. On his death a warm tribute to his memory was paid in the House of Lords by Lords Lansdowne, Brougham, and Derby. Lord Houghton, in his ‘Monographs’ (1873, pp. 227–8), praises Lord Ashburton's extensive knowledge and business experience.
[Burke's Peerage; Gent. Mag. 1848, xxx. 89; C. Greville's Journals, ii. 299, 300; Croker Papers, ed. Jennings, ii. 397–401, iii. 17, 29, 46–8, 69, 72, 76, 105; Webster's Works, vols. i. v. and vi.; Pierce's Sumner, ii. 85, 193–225; Hansard, 1848, xcviii. 979–81.]
BARING, CHARLES THOMAS (1807–1879), bishop of Durham, was the fourth son of Sir Thomas Baring, second baronet, of the eminent banking firm of Baring Brothers. His mother was Mary Ursula, daughter of Charles Sealy, barrister-at-law, Calcutta. Charles Thomas Baring was privately educated till he entered Christ Church, Oxford, in 1825. At Oxford he greatly distinguished himself, and took a double first-class in classics and mathematics in his final examination in 1829. In 1830 he married his cousin Mary Ursula Sealy, and took holy orders. At first he devoted himself to clerical work in Oxford, and then took the little living of Kingsworthy in Hampshire. In 1840 his wife died, and he married in 1846 Caroline, daughter of Thomas Read Kemp of Dale Park, Sussex. In 1847 he was appointed to the important benefice of All Saints, Marylebone, and became renowned as an earnest, simple preacher of the evangelical school. In 1850 he was made chaplain in ordinary to the queen, and was select preacher at Oxford. In 1855 he left London for the rectory of Limpsfield in Surrey, where, however, he did not long remain. In 1856 he was chosen to succeed Dr. Monk as bishop of Gloucester and Bristol. He entered with energy upon the duties of his episcopal office, but he was not allowed to stay at Gloucester long enough to make a decided mark on that diocese. In 1861 he was translated to the see of Durham, in succession to Dr. Villiers.
The name of Bishop Baring is chiefly associated with the work of church extension in the diocese of Durham. He found a district in which a manufacturing and mining population had increased with great rapidity, and had far outstripped the provision made for their spiritual welfare. A movement had already been set on foot to supply the deficiency. Bishop Baring gave himself most assiduously to carry on the work. So successful was he during his episcopate of seventeen years that he saw the formation of 102 new parishes, the building of 119 churches, and an increase of 186 in the number of
