(HENRY, Viscount Melville), a late eminent British statesman, was born about the year 1741. He was a younger son of the Right Honourable Robert Dundas, Lord President of the Court of Session in Scotland, by Miss Gordon, a daughter of Sir William Gordon of Gordonston, Bart. He was educated at the High School and University of Edinburgh, and having been brought up to the profession of the law, was admitted a member of the Faculty of Advocates in the year 1763. He soon distinguished himself at the bar, and rapidly attained to extensive practice. The first promotion he obtained was the situation of one of the Assessors to the Magistrates of Edinburgh; after which he became, successively, an Advocate-depute, and Solicitor General. In 1775, when Sir James Montgomery was appointed Lord Chief Baron, Mr Dundas succeeded him in the office of Lord Advocate, which situation he continued to occupy until 1783. In the month of March 1777, he was appointed joint Keeper of the Signet for Scotland.

From the period of his appointment to the office of Lord Advocate, Mr Dundas in a great measure abandoned the ordinary practice of the bar, and devoted himself to public business. In 1774, he became a Member of Parliament, having been elected representative for the county of Edinburgh. Some years afterwards, he resigned the representation of the county in favour of the present Lord Chief Baron, and was chosen Member for the city of Edinburgh, which he continued to represent, until his advancement to the peerage. Although originally returned to Parliament in opposition to the ministerial interest, he soon joined the party in power, and became a strenuous supporter of Lord North's measures during the American war. He frequently spoke in the House of Commons, and notwithstanding the disadvantages of an ungraceful manner, and a provincial dialect, he was always listened to with great attention, on account of the clearness of his statements, and the weight of his arguments.

In the year 1782, Mr Dundas was admitted a member of the Privy Council, and appointed Treasurer of the Navy, under the administration of the late Marquis of Lansdowne, then Earl of Shelburne; and he continued to fill that office, and to support the measures of government, until the dissolution of that ministry. During the short coalition administration he was out of place, and made a conspicuous figure in opposing the memorable East India Bill, a measure which occasioned the overthrow of the ruling party. Upon that occasion, he displayed a knowledge of the affairs of the East India Company, which was evidently the result of much study and laborious investigation. In the month of December 1783, when Mr Pitt became Prime Minister, Mr Dundas was restored to the same office he had previously held; and was appointed President of the Board of Control, under the new East India System. In 1791, he became a member of the Cabinet, in consequence of his appointment to the office of Principal Secretary of State for the Home Department. The duties of this office he discharged with energy and ability. The volunteer system, which, undoubtedly, contributed much to rouse the spirit of the country, during a period of peculiar difficulty and danger, has been ascribed to Mr Dundas. On the accession of the Duke of Portland to the administration of Mr Pitt, he resigned the Home Department, and became Secretary at War. At this time, he also held the offices of Lord Privy Seal, and Governor of the Bank of Scotland; and enjoyed an extent of patronage in his native country, which has seldom, if ever, fallen to the share of any individual, and has been considered by many as more exclusive than can be safely confided to the hands of any one man. For many years, he was the intimate friend and coadjutor of Mr Pitt, and took a leading part in all the important measures of his administration. The details of these measures, and Lord Melville's conduct in regard to them, belong to history. In the present article we must restrict ourselves to a general outline of the events of his life, and a short summary of the leading traits of his character.

Upon the resignation of Mr Pitt, in 1801, Mr Dundas also resigned his political offices; and, in 1802, under the administration of Mr Addington (now Lord Sidmouth), he was elevated to the peerage, by the titles of Viscount Melville and Baron Dunira. The last public situation which he held in the government was that of First Lord of the Admiralty, to which he was appointed, on Mr Pitt's return to power, in the room of Lord St Vincent. It was in his administration of the affairs of the navy department, that his Lordship incurred that irregularity, relative to the balances of public money remaining in his hands, which produced his celebrated impeachment. We conceive it unnecessary to dwell upon the proceedings of that well-known trial. It is sufficient to say, that the House of Lords finally acquitted him of all the charges brought forward in the articles of impeachment exhibited by the Commons; but he had previously resigned all his offices in the administration.

Subsequently to his acquittal, Lord Melville was restored to his seat in the Privy Council; but did not return to office. He sometimes took a share in the debates in the House of Lords; and, in 1810, he brought forward a motion, the object of which was to recommend the employment of armed troopships, instead of hired transports, for the accommodation of such troops as it might be found expedient to embark in furtherance of the public service. But the greater part of his time was spent in Scotland, where he died suddenly, at the house of his nephew, the Right Honourable Robert Dundas, Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer, on the 27th of May 1811, at the age of seventy-one. He appeared in his usual state of health for some time preceding; and his death is supposed to have been hastened by the affliction he felt for the loss of his old and valued friend, the Lord President Blair, who died a few days before.

In his person, Lord Melville was tall, stout, and well formed. In public life, he was principally distinguished by his great capacity for business, by the unwearied attention which he paid to the details of all official measures, and by the manliness and deci-