Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 33.djvu/51

bigny in the French parliament, a formality which had never been gone through (Burke, Correspondence, ii. 113–18). It was during the memorable debate upon Richmond's motion for the withdrawal of the troops from America, on 7 April 1778, that Chatham was seized with his fatal illness when attempting to reply to Richmond's second speech (Parl. Hist. xix. 1012–31; see also Walpole, Letters, vii. 49–50, 51). In May 1779 he supported the Marquis of Rockingham's motion for the removal of ‘the causes of Irish discontent by a redress of grievances,’ and in reference to an allusion to a union of the two countries, declared that ‘he was for an union but not an union of legislature, but an union of hearts, hands, of affections and interests’ (Parl. Hist. xx. 650). In June 1779 Richmond received a well-merited rebuke from Lord Thurlow, whom he had taunted with the lowness of his birth, and who in reply reminded the duke that he owed his seat in the House of Lords to ‘being the accident of an accident’ (Reminiscences of Charles Butler, 1824, pp. 188–90; Mahon, Hist. of England, vi. 262; Parl. Hist. xx. 582–90). On 7 Dec. 1779 Richmond's motion for an economical reform of the civil list, which he maintained ‘was lavish and wasteful to a shameful degree,’ was defeated by 77 to 36 (ib. xx. 1255–8, 1260–1). On 2 June 1780 Richmond, who had previously joined the Westminster committee of correspondence, attempted to bring forward his reform bill, but was interrupted by the confusion which prevailed in the house owing to the presence of the mob in Old Palace Yard (ib. xxi. 664–72). On the following day he explained the purport of his bill, the reading of which alone is said to have occupied an hour and a half. The three main features of the proposal were annual parliaments, manhood suffrage, and electoral districts (see An Authentic Copy of the Duke of Richmond's Bill for a Parliamentary Reform, London, 1783, 8vo). It was rejected without a division, and practically without discussion (Parl. Hist. xxi. 686–8). In consequence of some expressions in the speech with which he introduced his motion for an inquiry into the execution of Colonel Isaac Hayne on 4 Feb. 1782, he became involved in a quarrel with Lord Rawdon, afterwards Marquis of Hastings, to whom he eventually apologised after an exchange of correspondence (ib. xxii. 966–71). In the same month he protested in the House of Lords against the advancement of Lord George Germaine to the peerage (ib. xxii. 1006–8). On the formation of the Marquis of Rockingham's second administration, Richmond was appointed master-general of the ordnance with a seat in the cabinet (30 March 1782), and on 19 April 1782 was elected and invested a knight of the Garter. In consequence of a misunderstanding with George III, which had lasted several years, Richmond, previously to accepting office, wrote an apologetic letter to Rockingham, in order that it might be shown to the king (Lord Albemarle, Memoirs of the Marquis of Rockingham, ii. 467–8; see also Donne, Correspondence of George III with Lord North, 1867, ii. 327–8). At a meeting held at Richmond's house early in May 1782, a resolution proposed by Sheridan requesting Pitt to bring forward a motion on parliamentary reform in the House of Commons was carried (Howell, State Trials, 1818, xxv. 394). In a letter to Rockingham dated 11 May 1782, written after the defeat of Pitt's motion, Richmond insisted upon the appointment of a committee upon parliamentary reform during the session, reminding Rockingham that ‘it was my bargain’ (Lord Albemarle, Memoirs of the Marquis of Rockingham, ii. 481–3). The committee was never appointed, for Rockingham died on 1 July 1782. Upon his death Richmond expected to be named by Rockingham's friends as his successor in the leadership of the party. His nephew, Charles James Fox, tried in vain to pacify him, by pointing out that they were ‘both out of the question owing to the decided part we have taken about parliamentary reform,’ and there can be no doubt that his chagrin at the adoption of the Duke of Portland considerably influenced his subsequent political conduct (Memoirs and Correspondence of C. J. Fox, 1853, i. 445–6; Lord Albemarle, Memoirs of the Marquis of Rockingham, i. 339–40). On 10 July 1782 Richmond explained in the House of Lords his reasons for not having followed the example of Fox and Lord John Cavendish in leaving the administration on the accession of Lord Shelburne to the treasury (Parl. Hist. xxiii. 188–191, 196). He appears to have objected to the cession of Gibraltar when proposed in the cabinet, but his opinion was viewed with indifference by Lord Shelburne (Lord E. Fitzmaurice, Life of William, Earl of Shelburne, iii. 305). In January 1783 Richmond, ‘disapproving of Lord Shelburne's assumption of too much power in the negotiation,’ refused to attend the council meetings any longer, but remained in office at the king's request (Walpole, Journal of the Reign of George III, ii. 578). In the following month he expressed his disapproval of the terms of peace with France and the United States in the House of Lords (Parl. Hist. xxiii. 395,