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HUSKISSON, WILLIAM (1770-1830)

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Originally appearing in Volume V14, Page 4 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HUSKISSON, See also:WILLIAM (1770-1830) , See also:English statesman and financier, was descended from an old See also:Staffordshire See also:family of moderate See also:fortune, and was See also:born at See also:Birch Moreton, See also:Worcester-See also:shire, on the 11th of See also:March 1770. Having been placed in his fourteenth See also:year under the See also:charge of his maternal See also:great-See also:uncle Dr See also:Gem, physician to the English See also:embassy at See also:Paris, in 1783 he passed his See also:early years amidst a See also:political See also:fermentation which led him to take a deep See also:interest in politics. Though he approved of the See also:French Revolution, his sympathies were with the more moderate party, and he became a member of the " See also:club of 1789," instituted to support the new See also:form of constitutional See also:monarchy in opposition to the anarchical attempts of the See also:Jacobins. He early displayed his mastery of the principles of See also:finance by a Discours delivered in See also:August 1790 before this society, in regard to the issue of See also:assignats by the See also:government. The Discours gained him considerable reputation, but as it failed in its purpose he withdrew from the society. In See also:January 1743 he was appointed by Dundas to an See also:office created to See also:direct the See also:execution of the Aliens See also:Act; and in the See also:discharge of his delicate duties he manifested such ability that in 1795 he was appointed under-secretary at See also:war. In the following year he entered See also:parliament as member for See also:Morpeth, but for a considerable See also:period he took scarcely any See also:part in the debates. In 1800 he inherited a fortune from Dr Gem. On the retirement of See also:Pitt in 18o1 he resigned office, and after contesting See also:Dover unsuccessfully he withdrew for a See also:time into private See also:life. Having in 1804 been chosen to represent See also:Liskeard, he was on the restoration of the Pitt See also:ministry appointed secretary of the See also:treasury, holding office till the See also:dissolution of the ministry after the See also:death of Pitt in January 18o6. After being elected for See also:Harwich in 1807, he accepted the same office under the See also:duke of See also:Portland, but he withdrew from the ministry along with See also:Canning in 1809. In the following year he published a pamphlet on the currency See also:system, which confirmed his reputation as the ablest financier of his time; but his See also:free-See also:trade principles did not See also:accord with those of his party.

In 1812 he was returned for See also:

Chichester. When in 18r4 he re-entered the public service, it was only as See also:chief See also:commissioner of See also:woods- and forests, but his See also:influence was from this time very great in the commercial and See also:financial legislation of the See also:country. He took a prominent part in the See also:corn-See also:law debates of 1814 and 1815; and in 1819 he presented a memorandum to See also:Lord See also:Liverpool advocating a largereduction in the unfunded See also:debt, and explaining a method See also:fell the resumption of See also:cash payments, which was embodied in the act passed the same year. In 1821 he was a member of the See also:committee appointed to inquire into the causes of the agricultural See also:distress then prevailing, and the proposed relaxation of the corn See also:laws embodied in the See also:report was understood to have been chiefly due to his strenuous advocacy. In 1823 he was appointed See also:president of the See also:board of trade and treasurer of the See also:navy, and shortly afterwards he received a seat in the See also:cabinet. In the same year he was returned for Liverpool as successor to Canning, and as the only See also:man who could reconcile the Tory merchants to a free trade policy. Among the more important legislative changes with which he was principally connected were a reform of the See also:Navigation Acts, admitting other nations to a full equality and See also:reciprocity of See also:shipping duties; the See also:repeal of the labour laws; the introduction of a new sinking fund; the reduction of the duties on manufactures and on the importation of See also:foreign goods, and the repeal of the See also:quarantine duties. In accordance with his See also:suggestion Canning in 1827 introduced a measure on the corn laws proposing the See also:adoption of a sliding See also:scale to regulate the amount of See also:duty. A misapprehension between Huskisson and the duke of See also:Wellington led to the duke proposing an See also:amendment, the success of which caused the See also:abandonment of the measure by the government. After the death of Canning in the same year Huskisson accepted the secretaryship of the colonies under Lord Goderich, an office which he continued to hold in the new cabinet formed by the duke of Wellington in the following year. After succeeding with great difficulty in inducing the cabinet to agree to a See also:compromise on the corn laws, Huskisson finally resigned office in May 1829 on See also:account of a difference with his colleagues in regard to the disfranchisement of See also:East See also:Retford. On the 15th of See also:September of the following year he was accidentally killed by a See also:locomotive See also:engine while See also:present at the opening of the Liverpool and See also:Manchester railway.

See the Life of Huskisson, by J. See also:

Wright (See also:London, 1831).

End of Article: HUSKISSON, WILLIAM (1770-1830)

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