independence, and always ready to lend them friendly aid. I do not believe safety is to be found, or peace secured, by this rectification of the frontier. We must remember that this rectification is a purely military question; and, according to the very highest authorities-Lord Lawrence, Sir H. Norman, Sir H. Durant, Sir G. Yule, and Lord Sandhurstthe frontier cannot be advantageously altered. I believe that it is in the friendship of the Afghans-a brave and independent people, holding almost an inaccessible tract of country-we shall find on the north-west frontier of India the surest, best, and most lasting bulwark to our great Indian Empire. Before I conclude, let me ask you what has been the result of the general foreign policy of Her Majesty's Government? Blindly attached to the old policy of the Crimean War, it declined to recognize the great fact that the tyranny of the Ottoman Empire had lost its grasp over its Christian subjects. Against the inevitable course of history, against the opinions of Lord Derby, and Lord Carnarvon, against the opinions of two such distinguished Cabinet Ministers, the Government has persistently identified the interests of England with those of an effete Power. It has, by burdening-and I use the word burdening advisedly -this country with the protectorate of Asia Minor, linked the interests of England, a free and solvent people, with those of a corrupt and bankrupt Empire. And, gentlemen, what has it done at home? Why, it has appealed to popular passion and music-hall patriotism; and I will say this, that so far it has been successful, for it has really succeeded in vulgarizing our national character."

These are but extracts from a most powerful speech, and give an excellent general idea of Lord Lymington's views. As may have been supposed at the General Election, he was returned second on the poll, Sir Robert Carden this time being successful, and Barnstaple has the peculiar distinction of being represented by one of the youngest, and also by one of the oldest Members (as far as age is concerned) in the House of Commons. The numbers at the close of the polling in April, 1880, were as follows:-Carden, 856; Lord Lymington, 811; and Grenfell, 720. The maiden speech, delivered by Lord Lymington after his return to the House of Commons, was on the Second Reading of the Hares and Rabbits' Bill, and with the provisions, no less than the spirit of which he showed a consummate mastery. His lordship, as reported, said he would regret if the debate were to lose

that practical character which so eminently fitted the subject for discussion, or if it should assume an aspect of unreality by a discussion of such an abstract question as the right of the State to interfere with private contract. As to the real character of the Bill, his own opinion was that there was nothing in it which implied confiscation, or that interfered with freedom of contract in its real and best sense. He would not follow the various, almost melancholy anticipations which had been expressed, as to what would be the results of the passing of such a measure; but he quite agreed with one statement which had been madenamely, that the legislation proposed, or, indeed, any other legislation whatever, could not interfere with any arrangement between a landlord and his tenant when their relations were cordial; but his opinion was that this Bill would insure arrangements being dictated by mutual advantage, and not by compulsory and one-sided arrangements, as was too often the case. He did not deny that there existed at the present time absolute freedom of contract, but it must be remembered that hitherto the landlord had the important advantage over the tenant that he stood in a vastly superior position for making a bargain. They had been told that at the present moment agriculture was depressed, and that land-owners were placed in a position of corresponding disadvantage, but they had good reason to hope that the previous condition of things would speedily return, when agriculture would again become so popular an occupation that the landlord would once more be in a position to dictate the terms to his tenants and to impose restrictions upon them which might be detrimental to them in the pursuit of their occupation. No doubt the majority of landlords were honest and honourable men, who would not allow their tenants to be subjected to losses from the ravages of ground game; but hitherto, owing to the land being in the hands of comparatively few people, the landlord had almost a monopoly of power. He did not grudge him that monopoly, but, unless he misconceived the purpose of the Bill, one of its intentions was to prevent the abuse of the exercise of that monopoly. The Bill would not, therefore, affect good landlords in any way, and it would remove the chief argument from the whole game agitation, and make the farmers themselves the leaders of the game preservers. He observed with satisfaction that no direct opposition to the Bill had come from the front Oppo

sition benches. His lordship concluded his speech by advising the suggested compromise, and characterising it as just, reasonable, and based on a fair principle.

His most recent speech of importance was delivered in the House of Commons after the Easter recess on the Irish Land Bill. Having been much in Ireland (indeed he has filled the office of High Sheriff of the county of Wexford), his lordship is thoroughly au courant with Irish needs and the kind of legislation which is calculated to supply those requirements, and which will tend towards the prosperity and pacification of that country. The Earls of Portsmouth having extensive estates in the neighbourhood of the historical Vinegar Hill, long prior to any official action on the part of the Government, seemed to have solved the mystery of Irish dissatisfaction, for we find from an elaborate article which appeared in the Nineteenth Century, from the pen of Viscount Lymington (“The Portsmouth Custom "), that the Wexford (agricultural holdings) estates are characterised by security of tenure, moderate rents, and free sale. Space will not allow of our going into detail either into this essay in the Nineteenth Century or the speech of Lord Lymington in the House of Commons; suffice it to remark that his lordship is well qualified to be heard on this deeply interesting problem, and that his knowledge is derived from a sympathetic and personal study of the difficulty. But Viscount Lymington is a great and respected authority on agricultural questions generally, following the example of his illustrious father. He is a landlord in the technical and paternal, as distinguished from the nominal, sense and is personally beloved by his tenantry. The feudal system, although now an anachronism, in the hands of such families as that of the subject of this sketch, would work well and be for the real interests of the people. Lord Lymington has also improved his observation by travel, having not long returned from a three months' tour in the United States, when he visited many places of historical import. Some interesting comments on this visit may be found in the New York World.

We predict for Viscount Lymington, who is a lineal descendant of Sir Isaac Newton, a distinguished political future. His erudition and patient mastery of detail may be compared to that of the great statesman whom Lord Lymington so manifestly reveres, and of whose Government he has been even up to this period, so able and useful

a supporter. Mr. Forster's eulogy of his lordship's speech on April 25th, was something far deeper than the conventional compliment to brilliancy, and it was with a feeling of that old enthusiasm, which some say is vanishing from political life, that honourable gentlemen, including honourable opponents, greeted the young Lord Lymington as he resumed his seat.

ALDERMAN SIR THOMAS S. OWDEN.

IN writing the annals of the City of London it may be invidious to speak comparatively when describing the Mayoralties of the past. The chief civic-chair of the United Kingdom has been so frequently filled by men of the highest genius, the most consummate Statesmanship, and of almost boundless generosity, that tradition seems to forbid one's tracing exceptional cases of excellence in all, or either, of these departments. The maxim that "the majority includes the minority seems specially to hold good in a long line of rulers, but still there are instances of rare personal merit which justify a departure from the custom we have indicated. One of the most prominent of these is that of the subject of this biography; and at a time when the nation mourns for the loss of the great Conservative leader, the late Earl of Beaconsfield, it seems especially fitting that we should write a few lines anent the career of Sir Thomas Owden, for no living public man was ever a more fervid or consistent supporter of his policy, and we scarcely remember one who ever obtained so signal marks of a Premier's favour. We are not now writing of the accession to a title through the influence of the Government of the day, but we know of our own personal knowledge that Lord Beaconsfield on more than one occasion both publicly and privately expressed his appreciation of Sir Thomas Owden, as a magistrate, a politician, and a philanthropist.

The subject of this memoir-Sir Thomas Scambler

Owden, Alderman of the Ward of Bishopsgate and Lord Mayor of London (1877-8)-was born at Cuckfield, in the County of Sussex, in 1808, where he was brought up in the house of his uncle, his father having died whilst he was a child. Plunging at an early age into business life, Owden soon exhibited not only a penchant for commerce but a conscientious and almost morbid regard for the rights and feelings of those with whom he was associated. There is a Conservatism in Commerce as well as in Politics, and Mr. Owden found himself at the outset of life environed by the representatives of that fast vanishing school of British Merchants whose legend was a paraphrastic rendering of the old Roman maxim “Suum cuïque." In a temporal sense the subject of our sketch may scarcely be said to be faber suc fortunæ, for whilst he was a youth his uncle died, leaving him ample wealth; but in a public and civic sense no one may be said to have aided his efforts. Not long after the demise of his uncle, the future Alderman terminated his connection with the business with which he had been originally connected, in order the better to devote his energies to a public life of usefulness. Commencing in the London Orient, he became connected with the local government of the East of the metropolis, filling various offices with considerable eclat, ultimately becoming Deputy-Chairman and then Chairman of the East London Union, retaining the latter post until the Union was amalgamated with that of the City of London. In 1845, Mr. Owden was elected one of the representatives of the Bishopsgate Ward in the Court of Common Council, and soon became one of the most active members of that body, occupying the chairs of some of its most onerous Committees. In 1862-the year of the Second Great Exhibition-the subject of this memoir was chosen Deputy, and some six years afterwards (on the death of Mr. Alderman Copeland, M.P.), he was elected, without opposition, to succeed him as Alderman of that Ward which had witnessed his earliest efforts in public life. During the Mayoralty of Alderman Sir Thomas Dakin, in 1870, Mr. Owden (we are writing now of a period anterior to his Knighthood) served the time-honoured office of Sheriff of London and Middlesex, the late Mr. R. Jones being his colleague. In 1877, Mr. Owden was rewarded with the civic crown, being in that year elected to the highest office which it is in the power of the citizens (as such) to bestow. We remember that the