Western Worthies Part 1

Western Worthies.

by J. Stephen Jeans.

PREFACE.

The author does not consider that the following pages require any apology for their appearance. They are given to the world with a two-fold object--the first being that of gratifying an increasing and perfectly legitimate anxiety on the part of the public to know more of the antecedents--the struggles, and the triumphs--of the men whom they recognize as leaders; and the other, that of reminding a younger generation, from a contemplation of the lives of great men, that they too, may leave behind them

"Footprints on the sands of Time."

The scope of the present work renders it impossible to do full justice to any one of the men who have been selected; and on this account the author has made his Sketches more biographical than critical, leaving the reader to reflect on facts rather than on opinions.

To become food for biographers and worms was the two-fold evil of which Rachel spoke shortly before her death. So far as the former terror is concerned, the men who are pourtrayed in these pages have little to fear. Every care has been taken to secure accuracy of detail, most of the Sketches having been revised by those whom they more directly concern; and the author's aim has been to be just without severity, and truthful without personality. Humanity is so p.r.o.ne to error that the best men have their failings as well as their virtues; but while it is not desirable to extenuate the former, the biographer is still less warranted in setting them down in malice. Hence the writer has endeavoured to criticise in a kindly and temperate spirit, and to hold up virtues for imitation rather than errors for avoidance.

When these Sketches originally appeared in the columns of the journal with which the writer is connected, it was never intended that they should a.s.sume a more permanent form. It was only after witnessing the great amount of interest which they evoked, that he was induced to yield to pressing solicitations by trying to convert what was only a terminable lease into one renewable for ever.

One word more. Since the sketch of Dr. Norman Macleod was in print, that genial, versatile, and accomplished Divine has gone over to the Great Majority. On Sunday forenoon, the 16th of June, he died rather suddenly, although, as he had been ailing for some time previously, his end was not altogether unexpected. In the public prints of both England and Scotland, the tributes paid to his worth and ability have more than justified all that will be found in these pages. From Royalty downwards, his demise has produced a sadness "that pa.s.seth show." _Requiescat in pace!_

J. S. J.

_Glasgow, June 20, 1872._

WESTERN WORTHIES.

THE DUKE OF ARGYLL.

For its size and population Scotland has been remarkably prolific in the rearing of eminent statesmen, soldiers, and _litterateurs_. Viewed with respect to its relative importance as an item in the map of Europe, it has likewise a most chequered and eventful history--a history to which, in various essentials, no counterpart can be found elsewhere. Chiefly, however, has "the land of mountain and of flood" bulked largely in the records of the world, from the stern and heroic character and statesmenlike tendencies of its t.i.tled n.o.bility, the lights and shadows of whose characters, as they are developed in the historic page, go a long way towards conferring upon Scotland the distinguishing qualities that have made her famous. As this is not intended to be even a bird's-eye view of Scottish history, we may have said enough by way of introducing the reader to one of the most n.o.ble and ill.u.s.trious of the hereditary peerage of Scotland. Every schoolboy is more or less familiar with the annals of a race which has been identified through many ages with the interests--political, social, and commercial--of the West of Scotland. The Clan Campbell have been stigmatised as haughty, aggressive, and ambitious. The soft impeachment may be justly merited.

Throughout the most exciting and eventful crises of their country's history, the Campbells have always borne a distinguished and conspicuous part, both in the field of battle and in the Councils of State. Unlike not a few families and clans who can boast of a lineage almost if not quite as ancient and n.o.ble as their own, their name and fame are not "to hastening ills a prey." The lapse of years has not dimmed the l.u.s.tre of their achievements, or caused them to lie upon their oars inactive and inglorious. The present head of their clan--the Duke of Argyll--has in his day and generation been as distinguished as any of his more formidable ancestry. Their prospective head--the Marquis of Lorne--has pa.s.sed the Rubicon of Royal etiquette, allied himself with a Princess of the Blood, and gives promise of a most useful and distinguished career.

The clan can further claim for themselves six members of the British Peerage, and no less than twenty-two Baronets, nearly every one of whom has been raised from the ranks for conspicuous merit in one sphere or another. In almost every relation of life, the clan has had honour and glory reflected upon it through some of its members; and, in consideration of its past, present, and future importance, the possessor of the name of Campbell may feel a justifiable pride in the stock from which he springs.

George Douglas Campbell, the present head of the Ducal House of Argyll, unites in himself many of the most estimable qualities that enabled his ancestors, apart from the mere accident of birth, to achieve greatness.

That he is one of the most exalted of Scotland's aristocracy, a great territorial magnate, and ent.i.tled to take a high place in the Council of the nation, are facts external and independent of his own intrinsic merits. But the same remark does not apply to the Duke's rare diplomatic and literary abilities, to the sageness of his wisdom, to the maturity end value of his experience, and to the kindly qualities of his heart.

Pope spoke of an ancestor of his Grace as--

"Argyll, the State's whole thunder born to wield.

And shake alike the Senate and the field;"

but if the poet had applied his Muse to describe the living representative of the n.o.ble House he could justly have bestowed upon him a much greater meed of praise. It is a rare conjunction to find one who is born great, seek also to achieve greatness; but this His Grace has done in an eminent degree. The advent.i.tious circ.u.mstances of his birth placed him in a position only a few removes from Royalty itself, but not content with mere physical greatness, and realising that "the mind's the standard of the man," he has applied himself diligently to the acquisition of wisdom, until both in the domain of politics and in the still more cosmopolitan sphere of _belles lettres_ he has, perhaps, made himself more conspicuous by his sheer native worth than any other member of the aristocracy of Scotland. Intimately a.s.sociated from his earliest years with the civil and ecclesiastical affairs of his native country, he has been enabled, in his time, to do the State some service; and when the "history of Scotland in the nineteenth century" shall come to be written, the Duke of Argyll will be mentioned with honour and grateful regard. On these, and many other grounds that might be quoted, we are prepared to justify the incorporation in the present series of articles of such a name and of such a life--a name that is as familiar in the Church Courts as in the Councils of the nation, and a life that has been singularly pure, useful, and exemplary.

Born April, 30, 1823, his Grace is the second son of the sixth Duke of Argyll, by his marriage with Joan, daughter of John Gla.s.sel, Esq., his father's second wife. The present Duke is the thirty-second Knight of Lochow, and the thirtieth Campbell in the direct line of descent. He showed from an early age the remarkable apt.i.tude for business and the literary capacity which have since distinguished him in so eminent a degree, his first work being published before he was 20. While Marquis of Lorne he took an active part in the great controversy relating to patronage in the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, which culminated in the Disruption of 1843. His Grace was one of the first to denounce the obnoxious system of patronage, and he lent his great influence and high social position to the party of which Dr. Chalmers was the recognised head, giving it an importance which it might never otherwise have acquired. But his Grace did more than aid the Secession by his social influence; he also rendered yeoman service to that movement by his able pen. One of his first productions was a _brochure_ "On the Duty and Necessity of Immediate Legislative Interposition on behalf of the Church of Scotland as determined by considerations of Const.i.tutional Law." In this publication the writer gave an historical view of the Church of Scotland, particularly in reference to its const.i.tutional power in matters ecclesiastical. In another pamphlet, written in the course of the same year, and ent.i.tled "A Letter to the Rev. Thomas Chalmers, D.D., on the present position of Church affairs in Scotland, and the causes which have led to it," his Grace vindicated the right of the Church to legislate for itself, condemned the movement then in progress among certain members of the General a.s.sembly to establish the Free Church by a secession from the Establishment, and expressed his dissent from Dr.

Chalmers' view that "lay patronage and the integrity of the spiritual independence of the Church has been proved to be, like oil and water, immiscible." In an essay ent.i.tled "Presbytery Examined," published in 1848, the Duke entered upon a critical and historical review of the ecclesiastical history of Scotland since the Reformation, which was favourably criticised at the time, and received from every theological party in Scotland a good deal of attention. His "Reign of Law," may, however, be considered his _chef d'oeuvre_ as a literary effort. First contributed to the pages of _Good Words_, the "Reign of Law" was re-published in a separate form in 1866, and since then it has enjoyed a large sale and a high reputation.

As showing his unflagging industry and his love of letters, it is worth mentioning that he still contributes from time to time to the leading magazines of the day. As a rule, his articles receive the place of honour. They may not be so profoundly metaphysical as the contributions of Professor Maurice, neither are they so appallingly scientific as the propaganda of Huxley; but they are at least as entertaining, as instructive, as able as the best literary efforts of our most popular writers. One of the Duke's most recent contributions, which appeared in the _Contemporary Review_ for January last, on "Hibernicisms in Philosophy," shows that to Sidney Smith's stale joke about the obtuseness of Scotchmen there is at least one ill.u.s.trious exception. It is one of the best things of its kind that has ever appeared in a magazine that can command the greatest literary talent of the day.

The Duke of Argyll's political career has been long and ill.u.s.trious. He first took office as Lord Privy Seal under Lord Aberdeen's administration in 1852. After Lord Palmerston had a.s.sumed the reins of Government he was continued in this place until, in 1855, he exchanged it for the office of Postmaster-General. In the following year he went out of office; but in 1867 he was again induced to accept the Lord Privy Seal, an appointment which he continued to hold until 1859. In 1860 he was restored to the slightly more lucrative (there is a difference in salary of 500) but much more responsible and useful appointment of Postmaster-General. When the present Administration was formed, the Duke was elected to the office of Secretary of State for India, the Under-Secretary being Mr. Grant Duff, the member for the Elgin Burghs, than whom no man alive has a more thorough acquaintance with Indian affairs.

In 1851 the Duke was elected Chancellor of the University of St.

Andrews, and in 1854 he was elected Rector of Glasgow University. In September, 1855, His Grace presided over the twenty-fifth meeting of the British a.s.sociation for the Advancement of Science, which was held that year in Glasgow. On that occasion, as well as at other times throughout his career, His Grace displayed scientific knowledge and antiquarian research of more than ordinary depth; and his remarks on the subjects brought under discussion were listened to by the _savants_ with the utmost deference.

The Duke of Argyll is married to Lady Elizabeth Georgina, second daughter of George Greville, second Duke of Sutherland, by whom he has issue five sons and seven daughters. The eldest son, who has recently allied himself to Royalty, gives promise, as we have already indicated, of possessing in an eminent degree the talents that have so much distinguished his ancestors. Both the Marquis of Lorne and his Royal partner are extremely popular, and the alliance which has been consummated amid the fervent aspirations of a whole nation, is bound to raise still higher the influence of the ducal family of Argyll.

Alexander, the second son of the Duke, was born in 1846, and married, in 1869, Miss Jane Sabella Callendar, ward of his father, and daughter of the late James Henry Callendar, Esq. of Craigpark, Stirlingshire. The only other married member of the Duke's family is Edith, his first daughter, who was espoused by Earl Percy, the eldest son and heir of the Duke of Northumberland.

For the benefit of the curious in such matters we may mention that the Duke's t.i.tles are, by writ 1445, Baron Campbell; 1457, Earl of Argyll; 1570, Baron of Lorne; by Royal charter, 1701, Duke of Argyll; Marquis of Lorne and Kintyre; Earl of Campbell and Cowal; Viscount of Lochow and Glenila; Baron Inveraray, Mull, Morven, and Tory, in the Peerage of Scotland; 19th December, 1766, Baron Sundridge of Croombank; May 4, 1776, Baron Hamilton, in the Peerage of England; Hereditary Master of the Queen's Household; Keeper of Dunoon, Dunstaffnage, and Carrick Castles; Heritable Lord-Lieutenant of Argyllshire.

The literature of the Herald's College sets forth that the arms of Argyle are--Quarterly, 1st and 4th, Girony of eight pieces topaz and diamond for Campbell; 2d and 3d, pearl, a lymphad, or old-fashioned ship with one mast, close sails, and oars in action; a diamond with flag and pennants flying; ruby for the Lordship of Lorne; crest on a wreath, a boar's head, couped proper, topaz. Supporters, two lions guardant, ruby.

Motto--"Ne Obliviscaris." Behind the arms there are two honourable badges in saltire, which his Grace's ancestors have borne a long time, as Great Masters of the King's Household and Justiciaries of Scotland.

The first is a battern topaz, same of thistles, emerald, ensigned with an imperial crown proper, and thereon the crest of Scotland, which is a lion sejant guardian ruby, crowned with the like crown he sits on, having in his dexter paw a sword proper, the pommel and hilt, topaz; and in the sinister a sceptre of the last. The other badge is a sword, as that in the lion's paw.

The Duke is proprietor of the greater part of Argyllshire--a county having an area of 2,432,000 acres, of which only 308,000 are under cultivation. The greatest breadth of the mainland is about 115 miles; and from the windings of the numerous bays and creeks, with which the land is everywhere indented, the county is supposed to have more than 600 miles of sea coast. His chief seats are--Inverary Castle, on the banks of Lochfyne; Roseneath Castle, Dumbartonshire; Longniddry, Haddingtonshire; Halnaker, Suss.e.x; and Argyle House, Camden Hill, London.

THE RIGHT HON. H. A. BRUCE.

The Right Hon. Henry Austin Bruce is a native of Wales. He was born at Duffryn, Aberdare, Glamorganshire, and is both by birth and training a thorough Cambrian. His father, who is still living, was for several years Stipendiary Magistrate at Merthyr, and once contested that borough unsuccessfully with Sir John Guest. He was originally a Mr. Knight--a patronymic which, in 1805, he changed to Bruce, and afterwards, in 1837, to Pryce. The Member for Renfrewshire is, therefore, described as the second son of John Bruce Pryce, Esq., of Duffryn, St. Nicholas, Glamorganshire, by Sarah, the second daughter of the Rev. Hugh Austin, Rector of St. Peter's, in Barbadoes. Paternally, he is a nephew of the late Lord-Justice Knight Bruce, who was spared to see him attain the dignity of Privy Councillor, but not long enough to witness his admission to the rank of a Cabinet Minister. It may be added, for the purpose of completing these domestic details, that his great-grandfather, Mr. Bruce of Kennet, was High Sheriff of Glamorgan more than 150 years ago; and, further, that he himself has been twice married, his first wife (to whom he was married in 1846, but who died in 1852) being Annabella, the only daughter of Richard Beadon, Esq., of Clifton, Gloucestershire; and his second wife, to whom he was married in 1854, being Norah, the youngest daughter of the late Lieutenant-General Sir William Napier, K.C.B., the author of that matchless military narrative, the "History of the Peninsular War," and distinguished also as the brother of the heroic conqueror of Scinde. The reader will thus perceive that the Member for Renfrewshire, who might be supposed from his patronymic to be a Scotchman, is not even connected closely by family ties with this part of the Island. His position, however, as the member for Renfrewshire, and his consequent intimate connection with the West of Scotland, may excuse his appearance in these pages.

In 1837, when he was only 22 years of age, Mr. Bruce was called to the bar. He practised at the Chancery bar, and attended the Oxford Circuit for two years. He withdrew from practice in 1843, but still retained his name on the rolls of Lincoln's Inn. In 1847, four years after this withdrawal, he received the appointment of Stipendiary Magistrate at Merthyr-Tydvil and Aberdare, the office previously held by his father, and for a period of more than five years he presided at the Police Courts of those towns. From this office he retired in the December of 1852, when he was elected Member for the Merthyr boroughs, the seat having become vacant by the death of that Sir John Guest whom his father had unsuccessfully opposed many years previously. Mr. Bruce has all along manifested a deep interest in the affairs of his own neighbourhood. He was Deputy-Chairman of Quarter Sessions in his native county of Glamorganshire, and he was also Chairman of the Vale of Neath Railway, Captain of the Glamorganshire Rifle Volunteers, and fourth Charity Commissioner of England and Wales.

Mr. Bruce retained his seat for Merthyr without interruption for a period of seventeen years. He had been ten years in the House of Commons when, in the November of 1862, he was nominated to office by Lord Palmerston; and it is worthy of remark that he was then appointed Under-Secretary of the very department over which he now presides--the post which was conferred the other day by Mr. Gladstone on the young and promising Member for Stroud. Mr. Winterbotham has not had to serve as long a political and administrative apprenticeship as his chief; for at the early age of twenty-seven, and after a Parliamentary career of only two years, he has leapt into the office which Mr. Bruce did not procure till he was twenty years older and a Member of ten years' standing.

This significant fact seems to "point a moral." It shows that there is now-a-days a better chance for the man who is capable for an important political post, despite his circ.u.mstances and antecedents. Mr.

Winterbotham is as staunch a Liberal and as p.r.o.nounced a Nonconformist as any of his ancestors; and yet, as we have seen, he is appointed at twenty-seven by Mr. Gladstone to an office which Lord Palmerston did not bestow upon Mr. Bruce until the latter was verging on fifty; and it is not at all improbable that Lord Palmerston, when he made the appointment in 1862, took credit to himself for stretching a point in favour of a laborious and deserving man?

Mr. Bruce had been Under-Secretary at the Home Office for about a year-and-a-half when he was appointed Vice-President of the Committee of Council on Education. This office he held for more than two years. His tenure of it came to a close in 1866, when Lord Derby (or rather Derby-c.u.m-Disraeli) returned to power. It was during these two years, in which he devoted himself to the subject of education, that he made the most impressive appearance which any portion of his career has yet presented either to the House of Commons or to the country. Though a nominee of Lord Palmerston, and like his patron anything but an advanced Liberal, he displayed an apparent breadth of view and an earnestness of purpose in his new sphere of Ministerial labour which were exceedingly creditable to him. Some of his speeches on education were admirable, and their tone may be guessed from the fact that they made him a favourite at the time with such organs of public opinion as Mr. Miall's _Nonconformist_.

It has been argued that Mr. Bruce had not the elevated motives which must inspire a thoroughly successful minister of education; that he was still the police magistrate in his ideas; and that he wished to call in the schoolmaster to aid in the repression of crime. But it is only fair to add that he never said a word to show that he did not value education for itself, and in his own locality he has been a constant patron of Mechanics' and other educational inst.i.tutions. Again, it has been said that his rejection by the house-holders of Merthyr at the general election, indicated that he had not really succeeded in winning the confidence of the working cla.s.ses. But there are other circ.u.mstances to account for this that ought not to be lost sight of. The const.i.tuency was suddenly increased from 1390 to 15,500, two-thirds of whom could neither read nor write. They chose, with great judgment, Mr. Richard, an eminent Nonconformist; with less judgment, Mr. Fothergill, an ironmaster, who had been conspicuous for the manner in which he had enforced "Truck," and opposed education. A new const.i.tuency naturally chose new members. But nearly 6,000 voted for Mr. Bruce, including, with very few exceptions, every man of education in the borough. One circ.u.mstance that was prejudicial to Mr. Bruce's interest, was his refusal to support the Ballot. Up to 1868 he had never voted either for or against that measure; but during the long contest which preceded the election of November, 1868, he saw much to recommend the Ballot, and to weaken his objections to it. Therefore, when he stood for Renfrewshire, on the death of Captain Spiers, he declared his devotion to the Ballot unsolicited.

Of the success of Mr. Bruce's administration at the Home Office, different and conflicting opinions are inevitably entertained. The post is one of great importance. Its holder stands above every other Secretary of State. He is the Minister who follows next after the First Lord of the Treasury. He is virtually the governor of Great Britain. But really the Home Secretary is not a man to be envied. He has a thousand things to decide which, decide them how he may, are sure to bring about his ears a nest of stinging critical hornets. He is responsible for so many things that his name is sure to be in the papers every day, and the notices of his words and actions are no less sure to be in the majority of instances unfavourable. Truly, it is a "fierce light" which beats upon the Home Secretary. It is a fine thing in its way to be a Cabinet Minister; but we can imagine some more enviable situations than the one which is at present occupied by the member for Renfrewshire. No doubt he gained the seat for that county by virtue of his position at the Home Office; but the same distinction has also made him one of the best-abused men of his day. The articles of almost savage ferocity which have been hurled against Mr. Bruce by the metropolitan newspapers would make, if brought together, one of the largest books in the world. He is a.s.sailed in books and pamphlets as well as in the newspapers. "Who could conscientiously envy Mr. Bruce?" asks a pungent critic who has recently been showering a series of "Sketches" upon the town, which have caused rather a sensation at Westminster. "Was there ever such an unmitigated mistake in any Cabinet as that man? He has proved himself weaker even than Mr. Walpole, and that was difficult." On every hand we hear it remarked that Mr. Bruce's solitary act of legislation has been the one relating to the London cabs, and even that is said to be an utter failure. It is true that, from no fault of the Home Secretary, but from political exigencies, Home Office Bills, being of a social and administrative and not of a political character, have been thrust aside.

They have been obliged to give way to such measures as the Irish Church and Land Bills, Education, Army Organization, and the Ballot. As for the latter question, Mr. Bruce spontaneously handed it over to Mr. Forster, believing that it would be better treated by an old advocate than by a recent convert. In such small s.p.a.ce of time as he could command, however, Mr. Bruce has carried the Habitual Criminals Act, which, in its proved results, has been the most successful measure for the repression of crime pa.s.sed during the last thirty years. He has also successfully dealt with the difficult subject of Trades' Unions, and he has carried an important extension of the Factory Acts, besides many minor measures.

As for the Cab Act, about which the _Pall Mall Gazette_ has every now and again raised a cuckoo cry, it is altogether a munic.i.p.al one, and ought not to be in the hands of a Secretary of State. As it was, Mr.

Bruce tried the experiment of "Free Trade." It failed, because the London cab owners had not the enterprise to introduce better vehicles, which he could not impose upon them. The Licensing question and the Contagious Diseases Acts are two of the most important questions with which Mr. Bruce is now endeavouring to grapple. Upon the construction of both measures he has manifestly bestowed a great amount of labour.

For a Scotch Member to be also a Cabinet Minister is, at present, a conjunction of exceeding rarity; and no less exceptional is it to find the county of Renfrew returning to the House of Commons one who is not a politician of native growth. For its size it has been remarkably prolific in statesmen of ability. One of its burghs can point to such memorable names as Wallace of Kelly, and Murray Dunlop; and the county itself has, in our day, been represented (amongst others of its own gentry) by that brilliant scholar and historian, the late Colonel Mure of Caldwell, who was the lineal descendant of the Mures of Rowallan, one of the very oldest of our Scottish families, and who was an embodiment of many of the finest qualities which have characterised the members of that ancient and honourable house. Nor can we forget that the sad event which made way for the return of a stranger was the sudden death of Captain Spiers of Elderslie--one who was just beginning to be appreciated by the general public, as they saw the gradual development of qualities which were solid rather than brilliant, and in whom were united manliness and modesty in a degree which is rarely to be seen, and which now gives more than a touch of pathos to his memory. There was no want of local talent to supply the vacancy so unexpectedly and painfully made by the removal of Captain Spiers, but a combination of curious circ.u.mstances, and chiefly the state of transition which at the moment characterised the politics of the two most likely candidates, left the field open for a stranger, while the enthusiasm felt in this part of the island for the new Prime Minister made it almost a matter of course that the vacant seat should be conferred, on terms unexampled for magnanimity and ease, upon that statesman who had been singled out for the post of Home Secretary by Mr. Gladstone, but who, having been thrown overboard at the general election by the new const.i.tuency of Merthyr-Tydvil, was still dest.i.tute of the essential condition to the retention of the high honour to which he had been nominated by his political chief. The manner in which the const.i.tuencies of Scotland, and especially those of our northern shires, responded to Mr. Gladstone at the supreme moment of his political career, is a fact which cannot be overlooked by any one who shall hereafter trace the lines of his biography; and the most striking proof of the trust that was reposed in him at that critical epoch by the people of Scotland will be found in the facility with which his Home Secretary procured a seat for one of her counties. Mr. Bruce's return for Renfrewshire was perhaps the finest of all compliments paid by a generous and intelligent nation to Mr.

Gladstone. One could wish to see some proof that it was duly appreciated in a little more attention being given to Scottish business in Parliament, and also in an increased measure of respect being shown to those measures of reform in which our agricultural population justly feel so great an interest. Thus far, it must be confessed, the farmers of Scotland have met with but a poor return for their fidelity; and we cannot wonder if we perceive amongst them symptoms of discontent that may ultimately lead to bitter estrangement.

HENRY GLa.s.sFORD BELL.

Of Henry Gla.s.sford Bell, the Sheriff of Lanarkshire, we may say, as Macaulay said of Johnston, "We are familiar with his personal appearance, as with the faces that have surrounded us from childhood."

For nearly half-a-century he has been a foremost citizen in Glasgow.