The Sun.
London, England, 1863-11-26 00:00:00

RE' L'lrall PEERAGES,

It is somewl ,at i emnrkable that during the time
the Earl of A' oerdeen presided over the destinies of
this country- —a perio► . extending from the resigna-
tion of the 'Derby Gc ,vernment in December, 1852,
to the accession of Lord Palmerston to power in
February, 1855—b e did not confer the honours of
the peerage upon • a single supporter of his Adminis-
tration. He did n ot even create a peer in the person
of his own Lord Chancellor, for at the time Lord
Cranworth was c ailed to the woolsack he had already
been in the Hoe se of Lords two years, having been
elevated to the Upper House by Lord John Russell
in December, 1850. Nor for many months after
Lord Palmerston assumed the helm of the State
vessel were amp additions made to the ranks of the
supporters in the House of Lords.
Eerly, how ever-, in 1856, Sir James Parke, one
of the Bar one of the Court of Exchequer, retired.
after an rayierience of 28 years upon the judicial
bench. It was believed that Sir James would be of
great aBF iF,tance to the five law courts of the Upper
House- -lords Lyndhurst, Brougham, Campbell,
St. Le °nerds, and the Lord Chancellor; so on the
16th of January, 1856, the Queen was pleased to
direct letters patent to be passed under the Great
Seal of the United Kingdom, granting to the retir-
ing; judge the dignity of a peer under the style and
title of Baron Wensleydale "for the term of his
:natural life." Parliament assembled on the 31st of
January, and almost immediately Lord Campbell,
the Earl of Derby, and Lord Lyndhurst, with other
members of the upper branch of the Legislature,
brought the matter before the attention of their
Lordships' House, questioning the right of
the Crown to create peerages for life. Debate
after debate succeeded, and at length the Peers,
believing the innovation to be an attack upon
the constitution of the House of Lords, decided
that such a patent gave the recipient of the
honour no right to sit and vote in that House,
and recommended Ministers to create the title
afresh. To this they at first objected, but after six
months' consideration Lord Palmerston bowed to
the decision of the Peers, for on the 23d of July a
new patent was issue', with the usual remainder to
heirs male. On the 26th of Feb., 1856, Sir Gilbert
John Heathcote, Bert., onewhile M.P. for Rutland-
shire, ascended, to the Painted Chamber as Lord
Aveland. Sir Edmund Lyons, for his services as
commander of the Black Sea Fleet during the Rus-
sian war, was, on the 23d of June in the same year
createel a peer under the title of Lord Lyons. On
the 29th of August the Prime Minister made an-
other.. addition to the law lords. The Rig ht Hon.
Edaleard Strutt, who for more than a
quarter o a
cr.ntury had been a steady adherent of
the Liberal
party in the House of Commons, and who at that
time represented Nottingham in conjunction with
Mr.-Walter, now 31,P. for Berkshire, was elevated to
the peerage as Lord Belper. About a fortnight after-
ward—on 10th Sept.-3lr. Edmund Burke Roche,
who had sat for the county of Cork from July, 1837,
to A pri1,1855, was raised to the peerage of Ireland
asßaron Fermoy. His lordship was returned for
l
arylebone upon the retirement of Sir Benjamin
Ha!l from that borough in July, 1859. On April 4,
1807, Lord Cowley, who with the Earl of Clarendon
represented England at the Conference at Paris in
1856, was rewarded with an earldom for his diplo-
matic services. On the 11th of the same month the
:Right Hon. Charles Shaw Lefevre, who for 18 years
had discharged the duties of Speaker of the House
of Commons, was gazatted as Viscount Eversley.
On Sept. 10, Lord Robert Grosvenor, who for a
period of 35 years in the House of Commons had
zealously supported the Liberal policy, was elevated
to the peerage of the United Kingdom as Lord
Ebury. On the same day the Right Hon. Thomas
Babington Macaulay, who had retired from the re-
presentation of Edinburgh, February, 1856, joined
the ranks of the Government supporters in the
House of Lords as Lord Alacaulay. On the 15th of
January, 1858, the Hon. Charles Compton Caven-
dish, who had sat for Bucks since 1847, was raised
to the peerage as Lord Chesham. This was the last
peer created in Lord Palmerston's first administra-
tion, for in the succeeding month the noble viscount
resigned upon the carrying of Mr. Milner Gibson's
:adverse amendment on the Conspiracy Bill, and
Lord Derby reigned in his steed. As in the forma-
tion of his first Government, so in the construction of
his second, Lord Derby's first peer was his Lord
Chancellor. On the Ist of March, 1852, Sir Edward
Sugden ascended to the woolsack as Lord St.
Leonards ; on the Ist of March, 1858, Sir Frede-
rick Thesiger received the seals as Lord Chelms-
ford. On the 2d of August following Sir John
Yarde Buller, who had represented South
Devon in the Conservative interest from
1835, was raised to the Upper House as Lord
Churston. On the 16th of the same month Sir Colin
Campbell, who had saved India, " the brightest star
that ahiues in our commercial constellation," received
his well-merited reward in the honours of the peer-
age to which he was called as Baron Clyde
•af Clydesdale. Still in August, and on the 28th of
that month, the Right Hon. Thomas Pemberton-
Leigh, who had declined the Chancellorship in Lord
Derby's first Administration, was sent to the House
of Lords by that Minister as Baron Kingadown.
°ll the 14th of April, 1859, the ranks of the Go-
/be.ratnent in the Lords were increased by the acces-
siZof Colonel George Wyndham, of Petworth,
Lorcji, who took his place among his peers as
V. Taft:l4old. On the following dey, Mr.
Egerton, who had sat for North
Cheshireut
1832, was added to the rolls of
the peerage
ean the 16teletrhee Lord Egerton of Tatton ; and
third peer in as many days was
created in
person of Sir Charles Morgan,
of Tredegar.
for Brecon,
Sir Charles was
aforetime member
and was henceforth
to be known as
edegar. The last honour
conferred by the
Derby was on
May 21, 1859. Viseou4
CanA
of India, received an earldoouetifoinrgh, the pacificator
is services—an
act all the more graceful n
th
weieeracniZrbe of a Govern-
ment which only a t
Secretary of State, had severefore, through
its
Governor-Gener rely censured the
policy of the d escaped defeat
only through the sacrifice of the writer f
r o that de-
tch—Lord Ellenboroueh. the
spa month of June
1859, Lord Palmerston reappeared upon
the Trea-
suryhead of her Ma' t,Q
benches as the
taking raj" ;8 Govern.
merit, and was not long in
f the CeCtalires to coun-
terbalance the influence o
the 27tehtv:te Peers
created by Lord Derby. On
for
Mar lf the
Barne
month Sir B. Hall, then M.P. y eeone,
wa
the
elevated to be a member of the higher branchfoiio. of 4
Legislature as Lord Llanover. On the
who wfrioneag deY
the Right Hon. R. Vernon Smith,
the
year 1831 had represented the borough of North.
ampton, received the title of Lord Lyved
e'
and took
18th of
his place in the Upper House. On the
August the Right Hon. Henry Labouchere, for 29
ith
years representative of Taunton, was rewarded es'
a peerage, taking his title from the name of the
town which had so often returned him as its mem-
ber. On tce 13th of February, 1860, Lord -Ward
was honoured with the extinct title of Earl of
Dudley. On the 27th of June, 1861, Sir Richard
Bothell was elevated to the woolsack as Lord West-
bury ; and about a month later, on the 30th of July,
her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs was rewarded with an earldom,
retiring among the cool shades and vene-
rable associations of the House of Lards ac
Earl Itaseell. On the sth of August the
Right
Hon. Maurice Fitzhardinge Berkeley,
who had
filled
the office of Lord of the
Adtniratty in
several Whig Ministries, was created
a peer by the title of Baron Fit zhardinge. With this
Lord Palmerston
yappears to have been satisfied for
a season, for very nearly
two years elapsed before
the noble Premier bethought
the Ministerialists the
hght him that the ranks of
augmentation. It was Upper House required
7th of July in the
present
e year • that the eldest ett son of the Duke of
Somerset, who, according to the London Gazette was
commonly known as Earl St. Maur
the House of Lords in his father's
inseealleddto
er
the style and tide of Baron Seymour,
On Ihilend
ot the prorogation of Parliament, the 28th of July,
Mr. Brand moved for a new writ for the borough
of Pontefract, Mr. H. Monekton Milner, who had
e for 2,5 years. having
represented the ;lace aceapted
the office of stcwsrd or bailiff of her 'Majesty's
Chiltern Hundreds. A few days afterwards Mr.