John Methuen (1650–1706) was an English diplomat,
judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...
and Member of Parliament. He held office simultaneously as
Lord Chancellor of Ireland
The Lord High Chancellor of Ireland (commonly known as Lord Chancellor of Ireland) was the highest judicial office in Ireland until the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. From 1721 to 1801, it was also the highest political office of ...
and
English ambassador to Portugal. In the latter role, he and his son
Paul
Paul may refer to:
*Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name)
*Paul (surname), a list of people
People
Christianity
*Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chris ...
negotiated the
Methuen Treaty
The Methuen Treaty was a military and commercial treaty between England and Portugal that was signed in 1703 as part of the War of the Spanish Succession.
The treaty stipulated that no tax higher than the tax charged for an equal amount of Frenc ...
, the achievement for which John is chiefly remembered.
[Ball 1926, p. 14.]
Early life and career
He was born in
Bradford-on-Avon
Bradford-on-Avon (sometimes Bradford on Avon or Bradford upon Avon) is a town and civil parish in west Wiltshire, England, near the border with Somerset, which had a population of 9,402 at the 2011 census. The town's canal, historic buildings, s ...
in
Wiltshire
Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
, the eldest son of Paul Methuen (died 1667),
[Barker & Doyle 2009, p. 310.] who was said to be the richest
cloth merchant
In the Middle Ages or 16th and 17th centuries, a cloth merchant was one who owned or ran a cloth (often wool) manufacturing or wholesale import or export business. A cloth merchant might additionally own a number of draper's shops. Cloth was ext ...
in England, and his wife Grace Ashe, daughter of John Ashe, whose lucrative cloth business was inherited by his son-in-law.
The family, whose name was also spelt Methwin or Methwyn, was of
Scottish origin: Paul broke with family tradition by not entering
holy orders. On his death, John inherited the estate which his father had bought at
Bishops Cannings
Bishops Cannings is a village and civil parish in the Vale of Pewsey in Wiltshire, England, north-east of Devizes. The parish includes the village of Coate (not to be confused with Coate, Swindon) and the hamlets of Bourton, Horton and Little Ho ...
, near
Devizes
Devizes is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It developed around Devizes Castle, an 11th-century Norman architecture, Norman castle, and received a charter in 1141. The castle was besieged during the Anarchy, a 12th-century ...
. His father's large fortune was divided between John, his six siblings and their mother; his brother William took over the family business.
He attended
St. Edmund Hall, Oxford but apparently did not take a degree. He entered the
Inner Temple
The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wal ...
and was
called to the Bar
The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...
in 1674.
He married Mary Cheevers (or Chivers), of
Quemerford, Wiltshire, daughter of Seacole Cheevers and Eleanor Roberts.
Her father, like his, was a rich clothier. They had five children, including the diplomat
Sir Paul Methuen, of whom three survived into adulthood. The marriage was unhappy, due to John's notorious infidelity, and ended in separation. As a condition of the separation, he was required to pay Mary substantial
alimony
Alimony, also called aliment (Scotland), maintenance (England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Wales, Canada, New Zealand), spousal support (U.S., Canada) and spouse maintenance (Australia), is a legal obligation on a person to provide financial suppo ...
.
In 1685 he became
Master in Chancery
The Court of Chancery was a court of equity in England and Wales that followed a set of loose rules to avoid a slow pace of change and possible harshness (or "inequity") of the common law. The Chancery had jurisdiction over all matters of equ ...
, a post he held for the rest of his life, despite numerous complaints about his inefficiency. He was elected to the
House of Commons of England
The House of Commons of England was the lower house of the Parliament of England (which incorporated Wales) from its development in the 14th century to the union of England and Scotland in 1707, when it was replaced by the House of Commons of ...
as member for
Devizes
Devizes is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It developed around Devizes Castle, an 11th-century Norman architecture, Norman castle, and received a charter in 1141. The castle was besieged during the Anarchy, a 12th-century ...
in 1690 and sat for that constituency, with one short break, until his death.
Envoy to Portugal
He was appointed the English envoy to
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
in 1691,
to his delight, as he looked forward to a "not too onerous position in an agreeable climate". No doubt also the salary was welcome, as he was paying substantial alimony to his estranged wife.
The precise reason for his selection is unclear, but it may have been due to his family's prominence in the business world, as the English Crown anticipated that the two countries in due course would negotiate a commercial treaty. Tragedy struck the family in 1694 when John's younger son Henry was killed in a brawl with an English
merchant
A merchant is a person who trades in commodities produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Historically, a merchant is anyone who is involved in business or trade. Merchants have operated for as long as indust ...
in
Lisbon
Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
.
John established good relations with King
Pedro II which were to be of value later in negotiating the Methuen Treaty, but was required to return to England on his appointment to the
Board of Trade
The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for International Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...
, while his son
Paul
Paul may refer to:
*Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name)
*Paul (surname), a list of people
People
Christianity
*Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chris ...
remained in Lisbon to act as deputy envoy. John had two powerful friends at Court in
James Vernon
James Vernon (1646–1727) was an English administrator and Whig politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons between 1679 and 1710. He was Secretary of State for both the Northern and the Southern Departments during the rei ...
, the Under-Secretary of State, and Vernon's great patron
Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland
Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland, (5 September 164128 September 1702) was an English nobleman and politician of the Spencer family. An able and gifted statesman, his caustic temper and belief in absolute monarchy nevertheless made him nu ...
, who, though he was not then a
Minister of the Crown
Minister of the Crown is a formal constitutional term used in Commonwealth realms to describe a minister of the reigning sovereign or viceroy. The term indicates that the minister serves at His Majesty's pleasure, and advises the sovereign or ...
, was probably
King William's closest political adviser. On the death of
Sir Charles Porter, they recommended Methuen as Lord Chancellor of Ireland.
Although
Lord Somers
Baron Somers, of Evesham in the County of Worcester, is a title that has been created twice. The title was first created in the Peerage of England in 1697 for Sir John Somers, so that he could sit in the House of Lords and serve as Lord Chancel ...
, the English
Lord Chancellor
The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. The ...
, evidently thought little of Methuen, saying that he knew of "nothing that qualified him for such an office",
Sunderland at that time effectively controlled Court patronage, and Methuen was duly appointed. Methuen's crucial support for the Government during the
attainder
In English criminal law, attainder or attinctura was the metaphorical "stain" or "corruption of blood" which arose from being condemned for a serious capital crime (felony or treason). It entailed losing not only one's life, property and hereditar ...
of
Sir John Fenwick—in particular, his eloquent speech refuting the argument that two Crown witnesses were necessary to support a Bill of Attainder, as was unquestionably the case in a trial for
treason
Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
—was probably another reason for giving him preferment.
Lord Chancellor of Ireland
Methuen's political experience in England and Portugal could not have adequately prepared him for the bitter and faction-ridden world of Irish politics. The
Irish Parliament during his tenure as Lord Chancellor dealt with issues of security, trade, whether to honour (even in part) the articles of the
Treaty of Limerick
}), signed on 3 October 1691, ended the 1689 to 1691 Williamite War in Ireland, a conflict related to the 1688 to 1697 Nine Years' War. It consisted of two separate agreements, one with military terms of surrender, signed by commanders of a Frenc ...
, and the
Penal Laws, all of which were the subject of intense controversy and heated debate. Methuen, as Speaker of the
Irish House of Lords
The Irish House of Lords was the upper house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from medieval times until 1800. It was also the final court of appeal of the Kingdom of Ireland.
It was modelled on the House of Lords of England, with membe ...
, was heavily involved in these debates, and claimed that on the debates on the Limerick Treaty articles alone he had attended the House 22 times. He was however generally regarded as being singularly unsuccessful in managing Parliament.
He clashed with the powerful
William King,
Bishop of Derry
The Bishop of Derry is an Episcopal polity, episcopal title which takes its name after the monastic settlement originally founded at Daire Calgach and later known as Daire Colm Cille, Anglicised as Derry. In the Roman Catholic Church it remains a ...
, and was severely criticised in England for his handling of the debates. He was required to spend more and more time in England, leading to complaints that he was an absentee Chancellor; Elrington Ball in his history of the Irish judiciary remarked that though he ''held'' office he could hardly be said to ''occupy'' it.
Methuen complained that his reputation had been ruined and contemplated resignation, due to his belief that
King William III
William III (William Henry; ; 4 November 16508 March 1702), also widely known as William of Orange, was the sovereign Prince of Orange from birth, Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel in the Dutch Republic from the ...
had lost confidence in him. He quarrelled with the hot-tempered
Thomas Fitzmaurice, 1st Earl of Kerry, who challenged him to a
duel
A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two people, with matched weapons, in accordance with agreed-upon Code duello, rules.
During the 17th and 18th centuries (and earlier), duels were mostly single combats fought with swords (the r ...
. The matter became public when
Richard Ingoldsby
Colonel Sir Richard Ingoldsby (10 August 1617 – 9 September 1685) was an English officer in the New Model Army during the English Civil War and a politician who sat in the House of Commons variously between 1647 and 1685. As a Commissione ...
, later one of the
Lord Justices of Ireland, who carried the challenge, was arrested, but the King quickly ordered Ingoldsby's release.
The Irish-born writer
John Dunton
John Dunton (4 May 1659 – 1733) was an English bookseller and author. In 1691 he founded The Athenian Society to publish '' The Athenian Mercury'', the first major popular periodical and first miscellaneous periodical in England. In 1693, for ...
, visiting
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
in 1698, left a valuable sketch of the Irish Courts. He described most of the Irish judges as being men of such high reputation that "no one complains of them"; but made a significant exception for Methuen, who he remarked ''seems to be out of vogue''.
Return to Portugal
He returned to Portugal as the English envoy and then as full Ambassador, holding this office with some intervals from 1702 until his death.
Until 1703 he was permitted to retain the Irish Chancellorship, although he never sat as a judge again, but in that year the
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (), or more formally Lieutenant General and General Governor of Ireland, was the title of the chief governor of Ireland from the Williamite Wars of 1690 until the Partition of Ireland in 1922. This spanned the Kingdo ...
,
James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde
James FitzJames Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde, (1665–1745) was an Irish statesman and soldier. He was the third of the Kilcash branch of the family to inherit the earldom of Ormond. Like his grandfather, the 1st Duke, he was raised as a Protes ...
, insisted on his dismissal, saying bluntly that "he would not have him". In 1703 he received the title Ambassador Extraordinary, but not without some difficulty. Initially
Lord Nottingham, the
Secretary of State, refused it to him, causing him to complain to the royal confidante
Sarah Churchill, who in turn complained to
Queen Anne. The Queen, whose long friendship with Sarah was rapidly wearing thin, partly due to Sarah's notoriously bad temper, replied wearily that "I always took it for granted that Mr. Methuen was to have the title Ambassador Extraordinary".
Methuen Treaty
In 1702 Methuen persuaded the Portuguese Government to break their alliance with
Louis XIV
, house = Bourbon
, father = Louis XIII
, mother = Anne of Austria
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
, death_date =
, death_place = Palace of Vers ...
, and then began lengthy negotiations for an offensive and defensive alliance. Paul in his father's absence ultimately concluded the Treaty on 16 May 1703, a step of great significance in the
War of the Spanish Succession
The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict that took place from 1701 to 1714. The death of childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700 led to a struggle for control of the Spanish Empire between his heirs, Phil ...
.
John, on his return from England, concluded a commercial treaty on 27 December 1703, opening Portugal to the English cloth trade in return for preferential rates of duty on the import of wine. How beneficial the Treaty was to either side, in the long run, has been debated. Possibly its most important result was the development of the
port wine
Port wine (also known as vinho do Porto, , or simply port) is a Portuguese fortified wine produced in the Douro Valley of northern Portugal. It is typically a sweet red wine, often served with dessert, although it also comes in dry, semi- ...
trade, and thus it was popularly known as "the Port-Wine Treaty".
Last years
Methuen in later life increasingly suffered from
gout
Gout ( ) is a form of inflammatory arthritis characterized by recurrent attacks of a red, tender, hot and swollen joint, caused by deposition of monosodium urate monohydrate crystals. Pain typically comes on rapidly, reaching maximal intensit ...
and
rheumatism
Rheumatism or rheumatic disorders are conditions causing chronic, often intermittent pain affecting the joints or connective tissue. Rheumatism does not designate any specific disorder, but covers at least 200 different conditions, including art ...
; his health failed and he died at Lisbon, while still in office, on 2 July 1706.
His body was embalmed and he was buried in
Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...
. His son Paul (''c.'' 1672 – 1757) and his daughter Isabella (died 1711) are buried close by.
Reputation
Despite his undoubted skills as a
diplomat
A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...
, Methuen was a controversial figure, who made many enemies, including
Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish Satire, satirist, author, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whig (British political party), Whigs, then for the Tories (British political party), Tories), poe ...
, who dismissed him as "a profligate rogue without religion or morals, cunning enough but without abilities of any kind".
[Barker & Doyle 2009, p. 311.] His much-publicized affair with Sarah Earle, the wife of a diplomatic colleague, damaged his professional standing. Sarah appears to have been living with him at the time of his death, and he remembered her in his last
will and testament
A will or testament is a legal document that expresses a person's (testator) wishes as to how their property ( estate) is to be distributed after their death and as to which person ( executor) is to manage the property until its final distributi ...
.
His speech on Fenwick's attainder shows him to have been a gifted lawyer, but as a judge, he was not highly regarded in Ireland, although his admirers maintained that he made several necessary reforms to the legal system. Inevitably his reputation suffered from the comparison to his predecessor, the brilliant and popular Sir Charles Porter.
Even among his
Whig colleagues, opinion on his abilities varied: James Vernon thought highly of him, but Lord Somers clearly did not,
and his friendship with Sunderland did his reputation no good in the eyes of those (who were probably a majority of the political class) who regarded Sunderland himself as "the subtlest villain on the face of the earth".
[Kenyon p.329]
Notes
References
*
Ball, Francis Elrington (1926). ''The Judges in Ireland 1221–1921''. London: John Murray.
*
*Gregg, Edward (2001). ''Queen Anne''. Yale University Press.
*
Kenyon, John Philipps (1958). ''Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland 1641-1702''. Longmans Green.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Methuen, John
1650 births
1706 deaths
English diplomats
People from Wiltshire
Members of the Inner Temple
Burials at Westminster Abbey
Ambassadors of England to Portugal
17th-century English diplomats
Lord chancellors of Ireland