Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Frederick Howard, Fifth Earl of Carlisle
CARLISLE, Frederick Howard, Fifth Earl of (1 748- 1825), a statesman and author, was born in 1748. During his youth he was chiefly known as a man of pleasure and fashion ; and after he had reached thirty years of age, his appointment on a commission sent out by Lord North to attempt a reconciliation with the American colonies was received with sneers by the Opposition. The failure of the embassy was not, however, due to any incapacity on the part of the earl, but to the unpopularity of the Govern ment from which it received its authority. He was, in deed, considered to have displayed so much ability that he was entrusted with the vice-royalty of Ireland in 1780. The time was one of the greatest difficulty ; for while the calm of the country was disturbed by the American rebel lion, it was drained of regular troops, and large bands of volunteers not under the control of the Government had been formed. Nevertheless, the two years of Carlisle s rule passed in quietness and prosperity, and the institution of a national bank and other measures which he effected left per manently beneficial results upon the commerce of the island. In 1789, in the discussions as to the regency, Carlisle took a prominent part on the side of the Prince of Wales. In 1791 he opposed Pitt s policy of resistance to the dismem berment of Turkey by Russia ; but, on the outbreak of the French Revolution he left the Opposition, and vigor ously maintained the cause of war. In 1815 he opposed the enactment of the Corn Laws ; but from this time till his death, which occurred in 1825, he took no important part in public life. Carlisle was the author of some political tracts, a number of poems, and two tragedies, the Father s Revenge and the Stepmother, which received high praise from his contemporaries.