ABSTRACT
By background Frederick Robinson was a conventional member of the English ruling class. Meanwhile, Robinson’s career gained some independent impetus, but in the sphere of economic policy. When Castlereagh went to Paris to conduct the negotiations ending the Napoleonic Wars, Robinson again joined his suite. Even while the struggle against France went on, he disliked the protectionist measures thought necessary to counter the Continental system. By high Tories he was often pilloried, along with George Canning at the Foreign Office and William Huskisson at the Board of Trade, as one of a liberal fifth column in the cabinet. He concurred with the new prime minister on the main lines of policy to be pursued, Catholic emancipation and resistance to parliamentary reform, so saw no reason not to serve. Like the prime minister, he became convinced that the Corn Laws had now to be repealed.
