MEMOIR CONTENTS. DATE. Mr. Serjeant Glynn's Motion for a Committee to inquire into the administration of Criminal Justice, and the proceed- ings of the Judges in Westminster Hall, in cases relative to the Liberty of the Press, and the power and duties of 1771. Mar. 25. Debate on committing the Lord Mayor and Mr. Alderman Bill to empower his Majesty to secure and detain persons charged with, or suspected of, the crime of High Treason 1777. Feb. 10. 1778. Feb. 2. Mr. Fox's Motion, in a Committee on the State of the Nation, "That no more of the Old Corps be sent out of „April 10. Mr. Powys's Motion," That the powers of the Commissioners to treat with America be enlarged; and that they be DATE. 1784. June 8. The Westminster Scrutiny. Mr. Fox's Addresses to the Electors of Westminster (Note) 150 Mr. Fox's Motion on the conduct of the War with France. 574 King's Message respecting the Rupture of the Negotiation 1806. Mar. 3. Proceedings respecting Lord Melville APPENDIX-Mr. Fox's Letter to the Electors of Westminster, January 26, 811 SPEECHES OF CHARLES JAMES FOX. CHARLES JAMES Fox, third son of the Right Honourable Henry Fox, created Baron Holland of Foxley, in 1763, and of Lady Georgiana Caroline, eldest daughter of Charles, second Duke of Richmond, was born on the 24th of January, 1749. Having received the rudiments of his education in a private school of some celebrity at Wandsworth, Fox was sent, at the age of nine, to Eton. Here he gave early promise of future eminence. His father, through mistaken indulgence, took him to Spa during the summer of 1763, where he was initiated in that taste for gaming which was the source of much unhappiness to him in after life. On his return to England, he was, at his own desire, sent back to Eton. "He had left school a boy; he returned to it with all the follies and fopperies of a young man.' In the autumn of 1764, he left Eton, and went to Hertford College, Oxford, where he was distinguished alike for his application and superior talents. He quitted Oxford in the autumn of 1766, and went abroad for two years, the chief portion of which he spent in Italy. He returned to England in August, 1768; and having, during his absence, and while he was yet under age, been elected member for Midhurst, he took his seat in the ensuing session, and made his first speech on the 15th of April, 1769, in support of the decision in favour of Colonel Luttrell on the famous Middlesex election. He spoke, says Horace Walpole, with insolence, but with infinite superiority of parts. In February, 1770, when Lord North succeeded the Duke of Grafton as Premier, Fox was appointed a junior lord of the Admiralty. He retained this situation for two years, and resigned it partly in consequence of some misunderstanding with Lord North, and partly because he had resolved to oppose the Royal Marriage Bill, “which, in place," he says, "I should be ashamed of doing;" but he had no thoughts, he adds, "of going into opposition." He had an immediate and satisfactory explanation with Lord North, and in January, 1773, was appointed one of the Lords of the Treasury, a situation which he continued to occupy until his memorable quarrel with Lord North in the February of the following year. VOL. II. Biographical sketch of Fox in the Encyclopædia Britannica. B |