FOX, CHARLES JAMES

born Jan. 24, 1749, London died Sept. 13, 1806, Chiswick, Devon, Eng. Britain's first foreign secretary (1782, 1783, 1806), a famous champion of liberty, whose career, on the face of it, was nevertheless one of almost unrelieved failure. He conducted against King George III a long and brilliant vendetta; for this reason he was almost always in political opposition and, in fact, held high office for less than a year altogether. He achieved only two important reforms, steering through Parliament a resolution pledging it to abolish the slave trade speedily and, in the 1792 Libel Act, restoring to juries their right to decide not merely whether an allegedly libellous article had, in fact, been published but also what constituted libel in any given case and whether or not a defendant was guilty of it. Additional reading For the general reader two good modern surveys of the period covered by Fox's political career are John Steven Watson, The Reign of George III, 17601815 (1960); and Leslie George Mitchell, Charles James Fox and the Disintegration of the Whig Party, 17821794 (1971). Ian Christie, The End of North's Ministry, 178082 (1958), is most useful, as also are Richard Pares, King George III and the Politicians (1953); and D.G. Barnes, George III and William Pitt, 17831806 (1939, reprinted 1965). A biography critical of Fox is John W. Derry, Charles James Fox (1972). Older books that can still be read with profit are Sir George Otto Trevelyan, The Early History of Charles James Fox, new ed. (1908); and his American Revolution, new ed., 6 vol. (190516, reprinted 1964). Students who wish to consult the manuscript sources for Fox's career should turn first to the Memorials and Correspondence of Charles James Fox, ed. (though not very accurately) by Lord John Russell, 2 vol. (1853). A great deal of new correspondence and material bearing on Fox's career is in The Later Correspondence of George III, 5 vol. (196270), and The Correspondence of George, Prince of Wales, 17701812, 8 vol. (196371), both series edited by Arthur Aspinall.