Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/William Eden, Baron Auckland
AUCKLAND, WILLIAM EDEN, BARON, an eminent diplomatist and politician, third son of Sir Robert Eden, Bart., of West Auckland, was born in 1744. He was edu cated at Eton and Oxford, and adopted the profession of the law. At the age of twenty-seven he resigned his practice at the bar, and engaged in political life as under-secretary to Lord Suffolk. By the favour of the duke of Marlborough, he obtained a seat for Woodstock, and soon gave proof of his ability in the House. He attached himself to Lord North s party, and after serving under Lord Carlisle on the unsuc cessful commission to the colonists in America, acted as secretary to that nobleman, when he held the post of viceroy in Ireland. During this time he had obtained the offices of director and auditor of Greenwich Hospital, which probably yielded him an income sufficient for carrying on his political career. In 1783 he took a leading part in negotiating the remarkable coalition between North and Fox, and was rewarded by being made vice-treasurer of Ireland. In 1784 he opposed Pitt s proposal for commercial reciprocity with Ireland, but in so doing contrived to separate himself to some extent from his own party, and shortly after accepted from Pitt the office of plenipotentiary at Paris. Here he successfully negotiated the important commercial treaty with France; and after his appointment as ambassador to Spain, he rendered valuable service in settling the dispute between the British and French Governments with regard to the affairs of Holland. In 1789 he was made an Irish peer, with the title of Baron Auckland, and in 1793 he was raised to the British peerage as Baron Auckland, of West Auckland, Durham. For three years, 1798-1801, he held office as postmaster-general. He died suddenly in 1814. In 1776 he married the sister of the first earl of Minto, by whom he had a large family. Besides numerous pamphlets on political mat ters of the day, Lord Auckland wrote a treatise on the Principle* of the Penal Law, 1771. His political con duct has been frequently censured; he was a skilful diplomatist, and as a statesman was specially remarkable for his clear grasp of economic principles. His Journal and Correspondence, 4 vols. 1860-1862, published by his son, the bishop of Bath and Wells, throws considerable light on the political history of his time.