ISAAC BARRE.
Colonel Barre.
Colonel Barre was born in Ireland, about the year 1726. He served at Quebec, under Wolfe, in the picture of whose death, by Benjamin West, his figure is conspicuous. The Earl of Shelburne procured him a seat in parliament, where, acting in opposition to government, he was not only deprived of his offices of adjutant-general and governor of Stirling castle, which he had received as a reward for his services in America, but dismissed from the service. During the Rockingham administration, he was compensated for the loss which he had sustained, by being voted a pension of three thousand two hundred pounds per annum; which he subsequently relinquished, pursuant to an arrangement with Pitt, on obtaining a lucrative, but not distinguished office. He usually took office when his party predominated; and was, in the course of his career, a privy counsellor, vice treasurer of Ireland, paymaster of the forces, and treasurer of the navy. His best speeches were delivered during North's administration, on the American war, to which he appears to have been inflexibly opposed. His oratory was powerful, but coarse; his manner, rugged; his countenance, stern; and his stature, athletic. He was suspected, but apparently without reason, of having assisted in writing the letters of Junius. For the last twenty years of his life, he was afflicted with blindness, which, however, he is said to have borne with cheerful resignation. His death took place on the 20th of July, 1792.