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EARL JOHN CARTERET GRANVILLE (1690-1763)

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 363 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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EARL See also:JOHN See also:CARTERET See also:GRANVILLE (1690-1763)  , See also:English statesman, commonly known by his earlier See also:title as See also:Lord See also:Carteret, See also:born on the 22nd of See also:April 1690, was the son of See also:George, 1st Lord Carteret, by his See also:marriage with See also:Grace See also:Granville, daughter of See also:Sir See also:John Granville, 1st See also:earl of See also:Bath, and See also:great See also:grandson of the Elizabethan See also:admiral, Sir See also:Richard See also:Grenville, famous for his See also:death in the " Revenge." The See also:family of Carteret was settled in the Channel Islands, and was of See also:Norman descent . John Carteret was educated at See also:Westminster, and at See also:Christ See also:Church, See also:Oxford . See also:Swift says that " with a singularity scarce to be justified he carried away more See also:Greek, Latin and See also:philosophy than properly became a See also:person of his See also:rank." Throughout See also:life Carteret not only showed a keen love of the See also:classics, but a See also:taste for, and a knowledge of, See also:modern See also:languages and literatures . He was almost the only Englishman of his See also:time who knew See also:German . See also:Harte, the author of the Life of Gustavus See also:Adolphus, acknowledged the aid which Carteret had given him . On the 17th of See also:October 1710 he married at Longleat See also:Lady Frances See also:Worsley, See also:grand-daughter of the first See also:Viscount See also:Weymouth . He took his seat in the Lords on the 25th of May 1711 . Though his family, on both sides, had been devoted to the See also:house of See also:Stuart, Carteret was a steady adherent of the Hanoverian See also:dynasty . He was a friend of the Whig leaders See also:Stanhope and See also:Sunderland, took a See also:share in defeating the Jacobite See also:conspiracy of See also:Bolingbroke on the death of See also:Queen See also:Anne, and supported the passing of the Septennial See also:Act . Carteret's interests were however in See also:foreign, and not in domestic policy . His serious See also:work in public life began with his See also:appointment, See also:early in 1719, as See also:ambassador to See also:Sweden . During this and the following See also:year he was employed in saving Sweden from the attacks of See also:Peter the Great, and in arranging the pacification of the See also:north .

His efforts were finally successful . During this See also:

period of See also:diplomatic work he acquired an exceptional knowledge of the affairs of See also:Europe, and in particular of See also:Germany, and displayed great tact and See also:temper in dealing with the See also:Swedish See also:senate, with Queen Ulrica, with the See also:king of See also:Denmark and See also:Frederick See also:William I. of See also:Prussia . But he was not qualified to hold his own in the intrigues of See also:court and See also:parliament in See also:London . Named secretary of See also:state for the See also:southern See also:department on his return See also:home, he soon became helplessly in conflict with the intrigues of See also:Townshend and Sir See also:Robert See also:Walpole . To Walpole, who looked upon every able colleague, or subordinate, as an enemy to be removed, Carteret was exceptionally odious . His capacity to speak German with the king would alone have made Sir Robert detest him . When, therefore, the violent agitation in See also:Ireland against See also:Wood's halfpence (see SWIFT, See also:JONATHAN) made it necessary to replace the See also:duke of See also:Grafton as lord See also:lieutenant, Carteret was sent to See also:Dublin . He landed in Dublin on the 23rd of October 1724, and remained there till 1730 . In the first months of his See also:tenure of See also:office he had to See also:deal with the furious opposition to Wood's halfpence, and to counteract the effect of Swift's See also:Draper's Letters . The lord lieutenant had a strong See also:personal liking for Swift, who was also a friend of Lady Carteret's family . It is highly doubtful whether Carteret could have reconciled his See also:duty to the See also:crown with his private friendships, if See also:government had persisted in endeavouring to force the detested coinage on the Irish See also:people . Wood's patent was however withdrawn, and Ireland settled down .

Carteret was a profuse and popular lord lieutenant who pleased both the " English See also:

interest " and the native Irish . He was at all times addicted to lavish hospitality, and according to the testimony of contemporaries was too fond of See also:burgundy . When he returned to London in 1730, Walpole was firmly established as See also:master of the House of See also:Commons, and as the trusted See also:minister of King George II . He had the full confidence of Queen See also:Caroline, whom he prejudiced against Carteret . Till the fall of Walpole in 1742, Carteret could take no share in public affairs except as a See also:leader of opposition of the Lords . His brilliant parts were somewhat obscured by his rather erratic conduct, and a certain contempt, partly aristocratic and partly intellectual, for See also:commonplace men and ways . He endeavoured to please Queen Caroline, who loved literature, and he has the See also:credit, on See also:good grounds, of having paid the expenses of the first handsome edition of See also:Don Quixote to please her . But he reluctantly, and most unwisely, allowed himself to be entangled in the scandalous family See also:quarrel between Frederick, See also:prince of See also:Wales, and his parents . Queen Caroline was provoked into classing him and Bolingbroke, as " the two most worthless men of parts in the See also:country." Carteret took the popular See also:side in the outcry against Walpole for not making See also:war on See also:Spain . When the War of the See also:Austrian See also:Succession approached, his sympathies were entirely with Maria See also:Theresa—mainly on the ground that the fall of the house of See also:Austria would dangerously increase the See also:power of See also:France, even if she gained no See also:accession of territory . These views made him welcome to George II., who gladly accepted him as secretary of state in 1742 . In 1743 he accompanied the king of Germany, and was See also:present at the See also:battle of See also:Dettingen on the 27th of See also:June .

He held the secretaryship till See also:

November 1744 . He succeeded in promoting an agreement between Maria Theresa and Frederick . He under- 363 stood the relations of the See also:European states, and the interests of Great See also:Britain among them . But the defects which had rendered him unable to baffle the intrigues of Walpole made him equally unable to contend with the Pelhams . His support of the king's policy was denounced as subservience to See also:Hanover . See also:Pitt called him " an execrable, a See also:sole minister who had renounced the See also:British nation." A few years later Pitt adopted an identical policy, and professed that whatever he knew he had learnt from Carteret . On the 18th of October 1744 Carteret became Earl Granville on the death of his See also:mother . His first wife died in June 1743 at See also:Aschaffenburg, and in April 1744 he married Lady See also:Sophia Fermor, daughter of Lord See also:Pomfret—a fashionable beauty and " reigning See also:toast " of London society, who was younger than his daughters . " The nuptials of our great Quixote and the See also:fair Sophia," and Granville's ostentatious performance of the See also:part of See also:lover, were ridiculed by See also:Horace Walpole . The countess Granville died on the 7th of October 1745, leaving one daughter Sophia, who married Lord Shelburne, 1st See also:marquis of See also:Lansdowne . This marriage may have done something to increase Granville's reputation for eccentricity . In See also:February 1746 he allowed himself to be entrapped by the intrigues of the Pelhams into accepting the secretaryship, but resigned in See also:forty-eight See also:hours .

In June 1751 he became See also:

president of the See also:council, and was still liked and trusted by the king, but his share in government did not go beyond giving See also:advice, and endeavouring to forward ministerial arrangements . In 1756 he was asked by See also:Newcastle to become See also:prime minister as the alternative to Pitt, but Granville, who perfectly understood why the offer was made, declined and supported Pitt . When in October 1761 Pitt, who had See also:information of the See also:signing of the " Family Compact " wished to declare war on Spain, and declared his intention to resign unless his advice was accepted, Granville replied that " the See also:opinion of the See also:majority (of the See also:Cabinet) must decide." He spoke in complimentary terms of Pitt, but resisted his claim to be considered as a " sole minister " or, in the modern phrase, " a prime minister." Whether he used the words attributed to him in the See also:Annual See also:Register for 1761 is more.than doubtful, but the minutes of council show that they See also:express his meaning . Granville remained in office as president till his death . His last act was to listen while on his death-See also:bed to the See also:reading of the preliminaries of the treaty of See also:Paris . He was so weak that the under-secretary, Robert Wood, author of an See also:essay on The See also:Original See also:Genius of See also:Homer, would have postponed the business, but Granville said that it " could not See also:pro-See also:long his life to neglect his duty," and quoted the speech of See also:Sarpedon from Iliad xii . 322-328, repeating the last word (lo/.t&) " with a See also:calm and determined resignation." He died in his house in See also:Arlington See also:Street, London, on the 22nd of See also:January 1763 . The title of Granville descended to his son Robert, who died without issue in 1776, when the earldom of this creation became See also:extinct . A somewhat See also:partisan life of Granville was published in 1887, by See also:Archibald Ballantyne, under the title of Lord Carteret, a See also:Political See also:Biography .

End of Article: EARL JOHN CARTERET GRANVILLE (1690-1763)
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