111 family, whofe ancestors may be traced from the Chapter 26. conquest, was second son of Sir Saint John Bro- 1723 to 1725 drick, knight, of Richmond in Yorkshire, and of Wandfworth, who obtained a grant of lands, in the county of Monaghan, during the government of Oliver Cromwell. He performed fuch effential services in affifting the restoration, that he procured a farther grant of a large eftate in the county of Corke, and obtained a charter from Charles the Second, for the town of Midleton to return two members to parliament. Alan was bred up to the law, and rofe to fuch eminence in that profeffion, that in 1695, he was appointed folicitor general, and being chofen member for the city of Corke in 1703, he was unanimously elected fpeaker of the house of commons, attached himself to the Whigs, and having oppofed fome bills which were favoured by the duke of Ormond, lord lieutenant, he was removed from the place of folicitor general. In 1707, when the Whig administration was formed, he was made attorney general, and in 1709, chief juftice of the Queen's Bench; but was remove in 1711, when the Tories came into power... He was chofen, in 1713, member for the county of Corke, and again elected speaker by the Whigs, in oppofition to the caftle intereft. During the last years of queen Anne, he proved his faithful attachment to the religion and conftitution, by promoting the fucceffion of the house of Hanover, and was highly inftrumental in counteracting the cabals of those who were inclined to restore Period III. reftore the Pretender. In reward for thefe eminent 1720 to 1727 fervices, he was, at the acceffion of George the First, nominated chancellor of Ireland, in 1715 was created a peer, by the title of baron Brodrick, and in 1717, advanced to the dignity of viscount Midleton. In the fame year he was also chofen member of the British Parliament for Midhurst in Suffex, which borough he continued to reprefent till his death. When the functions of his high office did not render his prefence neceffary in Ireland, his eloquence and abilities were useful in fupporting the measures of government in England. As he confidered himself obliged to Sunderland for his promotion to an Irish peerage, he attached himself to the party of that minifter. But neither his obligation or intereft could induce him to fwerve from his duty to his country, or to support adminiftration in measures which he difapproved. He refifted all the folicitations, offers, and menaces of Sunderland, to vote in favour of the peerage bill, and he perfifted in oppofition to the request of the lord lieutenant, and the orders of the fovereign. The minutes of his converfations with Sunderland and others on that occafion, and the rules which he laid down for his conduct, afford evident proofs of his integrity and firmness, and do honour to his memory. His refufal in, this inftance offended Sunderland, and nothing but the difficulty of finding a proper fucceffor for the office of lord chancellor prevented his difgrace. He was treated how • Correfpondence. Article Peerage Bill. ever, with so much coldness and difregard, that Chapter 25. for three years he expected every moment to be dif- 1723 to 1725. missed; a situation of uncertainty, which he bore with unexampled patience and dignity. On the death of Sunderland, he attached himfelf to Carteret, in oppofition to Townshend and Walpole. He joined to a natural warmth and vehemence of temper, which he himself was the firft to acknowledge, an high confcioufnefs of his own talents and influence, which produced an unbending pertinacity of opinion, and a difplay, often oftentatious, of his own fervices and importance. He poffeffed great dignity of fentiment, and a fpirit fo independent, that he would not permit even his personal esteem for the king to bias his conduct in the duties of his high ftation; he confidered the falary of office his due for his exertions as chancellor, and thought himself at liberty to act, vote, and speak in parliament (as a lord) just in the fame manner while he was on the woolfack, as he would have done on one of the benches*. The warmth of his temper was increased by the ftill greater warmth of his brother and fon. Thomas Bro drick. His elder brother, Thomas Brodrick, had from Character of his firft entrance into life, uniformly promoted the Proteftant fucceffion. He was a member of the privy council to king William, and fat in the English parliament for the borough of Stockbridge, and afterwards for Guildford; and in the Irish parliament for the county of Corke. In confideration VOL. I. * See Correfpondence. C C of Period III. of his services, he was by the Whig administration 1720 to 1727; made comptroller of the falt duties, and joint comp Character of troller of the army with Sir Philip Meadows; which places he refigned in 1711, when the Tories came into power. On the acceffion of George the First, he was again appointed a member of the privy council, but was not gratified with any place. As chairman of the secret committee for the examination of the South Sea affairs, he acquired great popularity, and ftood forth one of the warmest advocates for fevere and rigorous measures against the directors, and those who had in any degree promoted the South Sea fcheme. As a Whig, he was ftrongly attached to the principles of that party'; generally fupported government, but not uniformly; poffeffed great weight among the country gentlemen inclined to the Whig intereft, and not unfrequently propofed and carried questions in oppofition to the known fentiments of the minister. He was held in high estimation by the king, as the head of a family which had ever shewn an unabated zeal in favour of his fucceffion; had been courted by Sunderland, and after his death, by Carteret and Roxburgh. He was a man of high fpirit and probity; but his temper was violent, captious, and overbearing. Saint John Brodrick, fon of lord Midleton, was not deficient in talents and knowledge; poffeffed great skill in debating, which he managed with good effect in the Irish houfe of commons, where his father's advice and interest rendered him highly refpected. He was prefumptuous and confident; fanguine fanguine in his hopes, and vehement in his pursuits, Chapter 26. affecting great forefight, fagacity and difcernment. 1723 to 1725. He was highly irritable, readily provoked, but open to flattery and eafy of delufion. He was first chofen a member of the Irish parliament for the borough of Midleton, and afterwards represented, until his death, the city of Corke. He was elected in 1721, and in the new parliament, which affembled in 1722, for Beralfton, in Devonshire. pole. Both the brother and fon caballed with lord Carte- Their antiparet, and seem to have conceived a violent antipathy thy to Walagainst Walpole, which was heightened by his oppofition to the bill for permitting the importation of Irish calicoes. The proud confcioufnefs entertained by lord Midleton of his abilities and influence in Ireland, was increased by accounts tranfmitted from his brother and fon, of the king's high, sense of the services rendered by the whole family, and by Carteret's repeated declarations, that he alone was capable of governing Ireland. His oppofition received an additional impulse from the fanguine representations of his fon, that the power of Walpole was declining, and a full conviction that the combination of Cadogan, Carteret, and Roxburgh, would triumph in the cabinet. tween Grafton An unfortunate misunderstanding had taken Mifunderplace between the duke of Grafton and lord Midle- ftanding beton, who, in the capacity of one of the lords juf- and Midleton, tices, had directed the administration of affairs, and confcious of his influence in the two houfes of parliament, expected to retain the fame power on the arrival of the new lord lieutenant. The duke of Grafton, however, was by no means inclined to place implicit C C 2 1 |