His son, ROBERT BANKS JENKINSON, 2nd earl (1770-1828), was educated at
Charterhouse and at Christ Church, Oxford, where he had George Canning,
afterwards his close political associate, for a contemporary. In 1790 he
entered parliament as member for Appleby; he became master of the mint
in 1799 and foreign secretary in Addington's administration in 1801,
when he conducted the negotiations for the abortive treaty of Amiens. On
the accession of Pitt to power in 1804, he obtained the home office,
having in the previous year been elevated as Baron Hawkesbury to the
House of Lords, where he acted as leader of the government. He declined
the premiership on the death of Pitt in 1806, and remained out of office
until Portland became prime minister in 1807, when he again became
secretary of state for home affairs. In 1808 he succeeded his father as
earl of Liverpool. In the ministry of Spencer Perceval (1809-1812) he
was secretary for war and the colonies. After the assassination of
Perceval in May 1812 he became prime minister, and retained office till
compelled in February 1827 to resign by the illness (paralysis) which
terminated his life on the 4th of December 1828.
The political career of the 2nd Lord Liverpool was of a negative
character so far as legislation was concerned; but he held office in
years of great danger and depression, during which he "kept order among
his colleagues, composed their quarrels, and oiled the wheels to make it
possible for the machinery of government to work" (Spencer Walpole). The
energy of Castlereagh and Canning secured the success of the foreign
policy of his cabinet, but in his home policy he was always retrograde.
The introduction of the bill of pains and penalties against Queen
Caroline greatly increased his unpopularity, originated by the severe
measures of repression employed to quell the general distress, which had
been created by the excessive taxation which followed the Napoleonic
wars. Lord Liverpool was destitute of wide sympathies and of true
political insight, and his resignation of office was followed almost
immediately by the complete and permanent reversal of his domestic
policy. He was twice married but had no children, and he was succeeded
by his half-brother CHARLES CECIL COPE JENKINSON, 3rd earl (1784-1851),
who left three daughters. The baronetcy then passed to a cousin, and the
peerage became extinct. But in 1905 the earldom was revived in the
person of the 3rd earl's grandson, CECIL GEORGE SAVILE FOLJAMBE
(1846-1907), who had been a Liberal member of parliament from 1880 to
1892, and in 1893 was created Baron Hawkesbury. He was succeeded in 1907
by his son, Arthur (b. 1870).
For the life of the 2nd earl see the anonymous _Memoirs of the Public
Life and Administration of Liverpool_ (1827); C. D. Yonge, _Life and
Administration of the 2nd Earl of Liverpool_ (1868); T. E. Kebbel,
_History of Toryism_ (1886); and Sir S. Walpole, _History of England_,
vol. ii. (1890).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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