CHARLES TOWNSHEND

CHARLES TOWNSHEND (1725-1767), statesman and orator, grandson of preceding; entered Parliament in 1747 as a Whig, and after his great speech against the Marriage Bill of 1753 ranked among the foremost orators of his day; held important offices of State under various ministers, Bute, Chatham, and Rockingham, and as Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1767 was responsible for the imposition of the paper, tea, and other duties on the American colonies which provoked the War of Independence and led to the loss of the colonies; a man of brilliant gifts and noted wit, but led by what Burke termed "an immoderate love of fame" to play "the weathercock" in politics; died when on the point of attaining the premiership.