Fox, Charles James. Statesman. Born in Westminster in 1749. Was the third son of Henry Fox, Lord Holland. Educated at Eton and at Hertford College, Oxford, he entered parliament at the age of 19 as member for Midhurst, and, having immediately made his mark as a debater, became a lord of the admiralty, and was in 1773 nominated lord of the treasury. He soon, however, quarreled with Lord North. In 1782, Fox became secretary of state under Lord Rockingham, but on the latter's death (in the same year), refused to serve under Lord Shelburne. His name was struck off the list of privy councilors, and in 1797 he retired from parliamentary life to superintend the education of his nephew, Lord Holland, and to write the "History of the Reign of James II." When his great rival, Pitt, formed his last administration, he wished Fox to join it, but the king gave a steady refusal. On Pitt's death, in 1806, the king was obliged to admit him to office, and Fox became foreign secretary in Grenville's ministry of "All the Talents." But the term of his life had nearly run out, and he had no time to realize the high expectations of his followers. His last motion in parliament was directed against the slave trade, and he died at Chiswick in 1806, within a few months of the measure founded upon it being passed into law. He was admittedly the first orator of his time; he was also a man of wide reading, and he showed himself equal to sacrifices to principle such as few statesmen have cared to make.

---