William Carr

“ Well qualified by the special information he possessed, he was entrusted with one of the opposition motions in the debate on the Russian armament, and, though the motion was lost by a considerable majority on this occasion, he greatly distinguished himself. Whitbread now rapidly developed into a leading spirit in opposition, and an earnest opponent of everything savouring of oppression and abuse. He proved himself a constant advocate of negro emancipation, the extension of religious and civil rights, and the establishment of a form of national education. ”

“ On the occasion of the Russo-Turkish war (1877-8) Baker took service under the sultan, in the first instance as major-general of gendarmerie. But in August 1877, at the request of Mehemet Ali Pasha, he was appointed staff military adviser at the Turkish entrenched camp of Shumla. Subsequently he was given command of a division in the Balkans. With extraordinary skill, in the face of an immensely superior Russian force, he fought at Tashkessan one of the most brilliant and successful rearguard actions on record. ”

“ Baker supplied them with stores and placed his three vessels at their disposal for their journey down the Nile; no less generous were they in informing him of what remained to be discovered. Speke gave his own maps, in which he had inserted the supposed position of the lake into which he had been informed the Nile flowed, and from which it issued again, and urged his friend to complete the discovery of the Nile source. Baker's first difficulties were due to the active hostility of the slave-dealers, to whose caravan he attempted to attach himself. ”

“ The methods of the chancellor of the exchequer began now to be subjected to severe criticism. On the debate (2 Feb. 1819) on the continuance of the Bank Restriction Act, Tierney attacked the whole conduct of Vansittart's finance, asserting that the minister added to the debt by exchequer bills as fast as he reduced it by the sinking fund.
The budget of 1819 was framed on the principle enunciated in the regent's speech for the year, that a clear available surplus of 5,000,000l. ought to be applied annually to the reduction of the national debt. ”

“ His first visit in 1846, in which he was accompanied by his wife, was mainly spent in big game hunting, but he was so fascinated by the fine country and the joys of a hunter's life that he went home in 1847 determined to return as a colonist. ”

“ During the last year of Whitbread's life his desire for peace, despite all change of circumstance on the continent, determined his conduct in opposition. He questioned the grounds of war with America on 8 Nov. 1814, urged the maintenance of peace on 20 March 1815 whether the Bourbon dynasty or Napoleon should prove successful, protested on 3 April against the declaration of the allies in congress against Napoleon, and on 28 April moved an address praying the crown not to involve the country in a war upon the ground of excluding a particular person from the government of France. ”

“ In order to secure the best man for the working out of a dangerous situation, the colonial secretary showed himself superior to party politics, and his instructions as to the policy to be pursued (Grey, Colonial Policy, i. 206, 234) were statesmanlike and worthy of the occasion. On the riots at Montreal following Lord Elgin's consent to the rebellion losses indemnity bill, Lord Grey defended in the House of Lords the governor-general's action, and declared that the principle of responsible government was the only possible method of administration for Canada. ”

“ The plan of his first budget, which was presented on 17 June 1812, was due to his predecessor; but Vansittart made new proposals for taxation, preferring additions to the existing taxes on male servants, carriages, horses, dogs, agricultural and trade horses, to Perceval's proposed tax on private brewing establishments. On 3 March 1813 he brought forward, in a number of resolutions in the House of Commons, a ‘new plan of finance’ (published 1813 under title ‘The Outlines of a Plan of Finance’) , dealing with the sinking fund. ”

“ A portrait of Baker from a photograph is prefixed to the 'Memoir' by Douglas Murray, and medallion portraits of both the explorer and Lady Baker, engraved by C. H. Jeens, appear in his book the 'Albert Nyanza;' a reproduction of a photograph also appears in the 'Geographical Journal' (iii. 152) . In appearance he was described by Lord Wharncliffe, who had been his companion in big game hunting, as a man of very powerful build, of medium height, but with very broad shoulders and deep chest, and possessing an extraordinary capacity for enduring fatigue. ”

“ Thomas Butler, seventh earl of Ormonde (Ware, Annals of Ireland, ed. 1703, p. 17) , and to have been early noted for his expertness in feats of arms; throughout his career he was commonly known as ‘Black James.' He followed the traditions of his family in supporting the Lancastrian house, and received knighthood for useful services rendered in Ireland during the rising of Lambert Simnel, when he proved himself most active in his opposition to the Earl of Kildare, who supported the pretender. ”

“ Here he made a stay of five months, and explored the Setit river, but most of the time was spent in big game hunting. His prowess in the field won for him the friendship and admiration of the Hamran Arabs, themselves mighty hunters. He explored other tributaries of the Atbara, including the Bahr-er-Salam and the Angareb, and followed up the course of the Rehad to its confluence with the Blue Nile. Thence he marched to Khartoum, where he arrived on 11 June 1862. ”

“ In 1832 appeared the first edition of Williams's ‘Treatise on the Law of Executors and Administrators;’ this great legal work passed through seven editions during its author's lifetime, and remains still the standard authority on the subject; it has justly been described as one of the most able and correct works that have ever been published on any legal subject (Chitty, Practice, p. 510) . In October 1846 Williams was made a puisne judge of the court of common pleas, and received knighthood on 4 Feb. ”

“ Denman was popular on the bench, but was more distinguished as a graceful scholar than as a strong lawyer. He was gifted with a fine presence and a beautiful voice, and maintained without effort the dignity of his office. From his school days he was a facile writer of verses, and throughout life found relaxation in study of the Greek and Latin classics. ”

“ At this period he certainly deserved well of his party, for his attack on Melville, which he followed up by a vigorous exposure of the conduct of the Duke of York, was popular in the country and improved the position of the whigs (Le Marchant, Life of Lord Spencer, p. 115; see art. Johnstone, Andrew James Cochrane) .
In 1807 Whitbread brought in a poor-law bill of the most elaborate and unwieldy character. ”

“ For carriers, as well as for permission to pass through his country, Baker was completely dependent on the will of this grasping potentate, whose extortion reached its climax in a demand for the explorer's wife. Leaving the Nile towards the end of February with an escort of three hundred of Kamrasi's men, whom he was soon glad enough to be rid of, Baker pursued his way along the right bank of the Kaja river with only twelve male followers. ”

“ A mild-mannered man, most ineffective in debate, he yet had many friends, and his mediocre abilities with accommodating and moderate views probably account for his holding office from 1801 to 1828 with the exception of only two years. He took a keen interest in foreign politics, and maintained a lengthy correspondence with D'Ivernois and Generals Miranda and Dumourier, which is preserved among his papers in the British Museum.
Vansittart was a high steward of Harwich, a director of Greenwich Hospital, a F.R.S. and F.S.A.; and received the freedom of the city of Edinburgh on 2 March 1814. ”

“ In 1853 he published 'The Colonial Policy of Lord John Russell's Administration' (2 vols.) in the form of a series of letters addressed to the late prime minister ; therein he boasted that during his period of office a remarkable development in both the population and the resources of the colonies had taken place, a commercial revolution deeply affecting the colonies had been safely passed through, and a great reduction of the colonial charges imposed on the treasury had been effected (Colonial Policy, ii. 303) . ”

“ From 1809 up to the time of his death Whitbread spoke more frequently than any member of the House of Commons. His opinion that publicity was the very essence of the British constitution accounts for the earnestness with which he attacked abuses of all kinds, and the frequent debates he occasioned on foreign affairs. His criticism of Lord Chatham's conduct with regard to the Scheldt operations was highly successful and greatly inspirited the opposition; his motion on 23 Feb. ”

“ In 1880, when Gladstone came again into power, he gave new proof of his confidence in Childers, appointing him secretary of state for war. In this capacity he was responsible for the administration of the war office during the Transvaal war of 1881 and the Egyptian campaign of 1882. He was not slow to display at the war office qualities similar to those he had exhibited at the admiralty. ”

“ On the burning down of the old theatre, 24 Feb. 1809, he became a member, and soon after chairman, of the committee for the rebuilding of the theatre. A bill for its re-erection by subscription was passed through parliament, and Whitbread supported the interests of Drury Lane in the commons, successfully opposing the introduction of bills for the establishment of rival theatres, one of his arguments being that the more theatres the worse actors and no one good play (9 May 1811, 20 March 1812) . ”

“ Childers, however, continued to act for the colony in an informal way, and to the end of his life was a staunch advocate of colonial federation. He visited Australia in 1858 on behalf of Messrs. Baring with regard to a proposed loan to the colonies for the purchase of railways by the state. On his return to England in September 1858 Childers determined to devote himself to politics, and at the general election of 1859 stood in the liberal interest for Pontefract, where he possessed some interest through his uncle. ”

“ Samuel Whitbread the elder came of a nonconformist family in Bedfordshire, where he inherited a small property. As a young man he entered a London brewery, in the first instance as a clerk, and in course of time became possessor of the whole brewery through hard work and good luck. ”

“ James Stansfeld [q. v. Suppl.] as a civil lord of the admiralty, under the Duke of Somerset, the first lord in Lord Palmerston's administration, and from the first showed himself to be a strong supporter of economy and reform in dockyard administration. In August 1865 he was appointed financial secretary to the treasury, and cemented a friendship with Gladstone, then chancellor of the exchequer, whose policy rather than that of Palmerston he was from the first inclined to support. ”

“ After each day's hunting it was his habit to enter an account of the day's sport in a diary, portions of which were privately published at the close of every season. He paid considerable sums of money to his tenants for the preservation of foxes, and on their behalf he successfully opposed the first Stockton and Darlington railway in 1820, because in its course it encroached on a favourite covert. ”

“ In 1848 he ceased to practise and found employment at the board of trade, where Sir Stafford Northcote was assistant secretary, in drafting bills dealing with the mercantile marine. This temporary work led to his permanent employment in the civil service, and he was granted the appointment of assistant secretary to the marine department of the board of trade in 1850. In this branch of the civil service he spent his life; he became assistant secretary in 1854 and was permanent secretary of the board from 1865 until 1886. ”

“ A similar arrangement for the conversion of the Irish five per cents was executed with equal facility the same year. The financial plan which Vansittart produced the same year for relieving in some degree the immediate burden of military and naval pensions was, however, from the first doomed to complete failure. His proposition was to grant to contractors a fixed annuity for forty-five years, calculated at about 2,800,000l., while the contractors for the annuity were to pay sums sufficient to meet the pensions due during a term of forty-five years. ”

“ He urged the injustice of appropriating Irish church revenues for the exclusive benefit of a minority, and demanded security for permanent improvements by occupiers of land. His motion was negatived without a division, but his early sympathy with Irish grievances was not forgotten, and rendered the voice that he subsequently raised against Gladstone's policy of home rule the more influential. ”

“ His name was now placed at the head of the committee appointed by the commons to draw up the articles of impeachment, and he was appointed manager on the nomination of Lord Temple. He entered on the task with the energy of an enthusiast, and the same session moved for a bill of indemnity in favour of those who had been in office under Melville who should give evidence on his impeachment. On 29 April 1806, on the first day of the trial in Westminster Hall, Whitbread opened all the charges in a speech of three hours and twenty minutes. ”

“ They included the subjection to Egyptian authority of the countries situate to the south of Gondokoro, the suppression of the slave-trade and the introduction of regular commerce, and the opening to navigation of the great lakes about the Equator. To carry out this ambitious programme Baker was provided with some twelve hundred Egyptian and Soudanese troops, and a great quantity of supplies of all kinds. He was the first Englishman to undertake high office under the Egyptian government, and in accepting the command was in no way supported by the English foreign office. ”

“ Through his grandmother Grace, daughter of Charles Fitzroy, first duke of Southampton and Cleveland [q. v.] , he represented the family for which in the first instance the dukedom was created.
The duke was more notable as a sportsman than as a politician. Living at Raby Castle for a considerable portion of every year, he proved himself an enthusiastic upholder of every form of sport. He commenced to hunt his father's hounds in 1787, and spared no expense on his kennel. ”

“ Three years later it was, however, found to be to the interest of the Midland to recall him to the post of general manager, and his services were almost immediately successfully employed in opposing a proposed bill which would have enabled the London and North-Western, the Great Northern, and Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Railways by far-reaching agreements seriously to handicap traffic on the Midland. ”

“ In whatever quarter of the globe he chanced to be, whether in pursuit of elephants in Africa and Ceylon, tiger-hunting in the central provinces in India, deer-stalking in Japan, bear-shooting in the Eocky Mountains, this iron-nerved sportsman ever proved his ability to excel all others. He himself regarded the pursuit of dangerous game as the best training for either an explorer or a soldier {True Tales for my Grandsons, p. ”

“ On the formation of Gladstone's first administration in December 1868 Childers was appointed first lord of the admiralty, and was admitted to the privy council. During his term of office he proved himself an active administrator, and carried out a number of far-reaching reforms. His main efforts aimed at promoting economy and increased efficiency in the existing administrative body. ”

“ The suggestion that Speke did not wish to share with another the discovery of the exact point of emergence is quite unfounded. Grant was asked to accompany him, and afterwards declared that 'his own state of health alone prevented him from accompanying Speke' (Walk across Africa, p. 247) . Great difficulty was experienced in approaching Chagasi, owing to the unwillingness of the king to receive the party, and Grant was obliged to retire towards Uganda, when by a fortunate accident he came across Speke's party on 19 Aug. ”

“ Since 1880 Childers had been gradually inclining towards a policy in Ireland which should harmonise, as far as was safe and practicable, with the aspirations of Irish nationalists. In September 1885 he informed Gladstone that he intended in his election campaign to advocate a wide measure of self-government for Ireland. ”

“ His ability for work and organisation was soon noted, and on 11 Oct. 1852 he was given the office of auditor-general, with a seat in the legislative council, and a salary of 1,200l. a year. In this office he practically controlled the revenue of the colony at the early age of twenty-six. On 4 Nov. 1852 he produced his first budget, which provided 10,000l. for a university at Melbourne, and on 11 Jan. 1853 he brought in a bill for the establishment of the university, of which he was made first vice-chancellor. ”