\"1st Baron Monteagle of Brandon\" Thomas Spring Rice Signed Free Frank Dated 1827 for Sale

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\"1st Baron Monteagle of Brandon\" Thomas Spring Rice Signed Free Frank Dated 1827 For Sale

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\"1st Baron Monteagle of Brandon\" Thomas Spring Rice Signed Free Frank Dated 1827:
$69.99

Up for sale the\"1st Baron Monteagle of Brandon\" Thomas Spring Rice Signed Free Frank Dated 1827.This item is authenticated By Todd Mueller Autographs and comes with their certificate of authenticity.

ES-6363
Thomas Spring Rice, 1st Baron Monteagle of Brandon,PC,FRS,FGS(8 February 1790– 7 February 1866) was a BritishWhigpolitician, who served asChancellor of the Exchequerfrom 1835 to 1839. Spring Rice was born into a notableAnglo-Irishfamily, which owned large estates inMunster. He was one of the three children of Stephen Edward Rice (died 1831), ofMount Trenchard House, and Catherine Spring, daughter and heiress of Thomas Spring of Ballycrispin andCastlemaine, County Kerry, a descendant of the SuffolkSpring family. He was a great grandson ofSir Stephen Rice(1637–1715), Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer and a leadingJacobiteSir Maurice FitzGerald, 14th Knight of Kerry. His only married sister, Mary, was the mother of theCatholicconvertsAubrey Thomas de Vere, poet, and theLiberalMember of Parliament,Sir Stephen de Vere, 4th Baronet. Spring Rice\'s grandfather, Edward, had converted the family from Roman Catholicism to theAnglicanChurch of Ireland, to save his estate from passing ingavelkind. Spring Rice was educated atTrinity College, Cambridge, and later studied law atLincoln\'s Inn, but was not called to the Bar. His family was politically well-connected, both in Ireland and Great Britain, and he was encouraged to stand forParliamentby his father-in-law, Lord Limerick. Spring Rice first stood for election inLimerick Cityin 1818 but was defeated by the Tory incumbent,John Vereker, by 300 votes. He won the seat in 1820 and entered the House of Commons. He positioned himself as a moderate unionist reformer who opposed the radical nationalist politics ofDaniel O\'Connell, and became known for his expertise on Irish and economic affairs. In 1824 he led the committee which established theOrdnance Surveyin Ireland.Spring Rice\'s fluent debating style in the Commons brought him to the attention of leading Whigs and he came under the patronage of theMarquess of Lansdowne. As a result, Spring Rice was madeUnder-Secretary of State for the Home DepartmentunderGeorge CanningandLord Goderichin 1827, with responsibility for Irish affairs. This required Spring Rice to accept deferral ofCatholic emancipation, a policy which he strongly supported.Spring Rice then served as jointSecretary to the Treasuryfrom 1830 to 1834 underLord Grey. Following theReform Act 1832, he was elected to representCambridgefrom 1832 to 1839. In June 1834, Grey appointed Spring RiceSecretary of State for War and the Colonies, with a seat in the cabinet, a post he retained whenLord MelbournebecamePrime Ministerin July. A strong and vocalunionistthroughout his life, Spring Rice led the Parliamentary opposition to Daniel O\'Connell\'s 1834 attempt to repeal theActs of Union 1800.In a six-hour speech in the House of Commons on 23 April 1834 he suggested that Ireland should be renamed \'West Britain\'.[9]In the Commons, Spring Rice also championed causes such as the worldwide abolition of slavery and the introduction of state-supported education.The Whig government fell in November 1834, after which Spring Rice attempted to be electedSpeaker of the House of Commonsin early 1835. When the Whigs returned to power under Melbourne in April 1835, Spring Rice was madeChancellor of the Exchequer. As Chancellor, Spring Rice had to deal with crop failures, a depression and rebellion inNorth America, all of which created large deficits and put considerable strain on the government. His Church Rate Bill of 1837 was quickly abandoned and his attempt to revise the charter of the Bank of Ireland ended in humiliation. Spring Rice, unhappy as Chancellor, again tried to be elected as Speaker, but failed. He was a dogmatic figure, described by Lord Melbourne as \"too much given to details and possessed of no broad views\"Upon his departure from office in 1839, Spring Rice had become a scapegoat for the government\'s many problems. That same year he was raised to the peerage asBaron Monteagle of Brandon, in the County of Kerry, a title intended earlier for his ancestor Sir Stephen Rice. Lord Monteagle of Brandon was alsoComptroller General of the Exchequerfrom 1835 to 1865, despiteLord Howick\'sinitial opposition to the maintenance of the office. Monteagle differed from the government regarding the exchequer control over the treasury, and the abolition of the old exchequer was already determined upon when he died.From 1839 he largely retired from public life, although he occasionally spoke in theHouse of Lordson matters generally relating to government finance and Ireland.He vehemently opposedJohn Russell, 1st Earl Russell\'s policy regarding theIrish famine, giving a speech in the Lords in which he said the government had \"degraded our people, and you, English, now shrink from your responsibilities.\"