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 late lord chief baron of the Court of Exchequer, 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 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 which 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 or never 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, afterwards 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 naval 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 he 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 troop-ships, 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 health for some time preceding, and his death is supposed to have been hastened by the affection 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 unremitting attention which he paid to the details of all official measures, and by the manliness and decision of his conduct. For many years, as we have already observed, he was the steady friend and firm supporter of the measures of Mr Pitt, to whom he proved a very powerful auxiliary. Whilst he held the offices of treasurer of the navy, and first lord of the admiralty, his exertions are admitted to have been attended with great advantage to the public service. He devised several improvements in the details of that department, which have been found of great utility; and, in particular, the regulations with regard to the payment of seamen's wages, transmission of letters, and other matters connected with that branch of the public service, contributed much to the comfort of that class of men, and are highly honourable to the character of their author. In parliament he was a clear, acute, and argumentative speaker. His eloquence, however, was that of a man possessed of strong natural talents, wholly unadorned by literary taste or acquirements; and his speeches produced their effect from the solidity of his arguments, and the fearlessness with which he delivered his opinions, not from any powers of oratory or graces of style. The ornamental parts of eloquence, indeed, he seemed to despise, and was satisfied to bring his audience at once to the object he had in view. Political power was his passion, and the haste of official life was the element in which he loved to move.

In private life his lordship was a most agreeable companion; easy, frank, and convivial; careless of money, even to a fault; always disposed to do kind offices; affectionate in his domestic relations, and greatly beloved by the numerous circle of his friends.

Lord Melville was twice married: first, to Miss Rannie, daughter of Captain Rannie of Melville, by whom he had one son, Robert, now Lord Melville; and three daughters. His second wife was Lady Jean Hope, sister of the late Earl of Hopetoun, by whom he left no issue.

Although not, strictly speaking, a literary man, Lord Melville is the author of several pamphlets on political subjects, which are distinguished by his usual sense and knowledge of business. These are, 1. The Substance of a Speech in the House of Commons, on the British Government and Trade in the East Indies, April 23, 1793. London, 1813, 8vo. 2. Letter to the Chairman of the Court of Directors of the East India Company, upon an open Trade to India. London, 1812, 8vo. 3. Letters to the Right Honourable Spencer Percival, relative to the Establishment of a Naval Arsenal at Northfleet. London, 1810, 4to.