The Sun.
London, England, 1866-02-09 00:00:00

THE LA rE LORD MONTEAGLE.

It requires some little effort for the men of this
generation to remember who and what was Lord
Monteagle, who died on Wednesday last at his seat
in Ireland. And yet Lord Monteagle filled high
office ; at a critical period of our parliamentary
history he held a prominent position, and he received
the reward of great merit and important services.
Unhappily, what will most be remembered about
him is something to be remembered against him•
The finance of the Whigs in his days was a bye'
word, and it was the misfortune of Lord Mont-
eagle, then Mr. Spring-Rice, to have been Chancel-
lor of the Exchequer for about half those ten years
when, after the passing of the Reform Bill, the
Whigs were on their trial as statesmen. g t Great
would be the joy of the Three per Cents. if Spring-
Rice would go into holy orders," wrote Sydney
Smith, and it must be borne in mind that Sydney
Smith was himself a Whig. The Chancellor, of the
Exchequer did not take the hint of the humourist
by entering holy orders, but he entered the
sacred edifice of the peerage, hid his head in a
coronet, and the much - abused name of Spring"
Rice was forgotten in the lustre of a new title.

Thomas Spring-Rice was an Irishman, born in
Ireland in the year 1790. He was educated at
Trinity College, Cambridge, where he took his de-
gree in 1811. In 1820, having in the meantime
married a daughter of the Earl of Limerick, he en-
tered Parliament as member for his native place--
Limerick—which he continued to represent till the
year 1832. Gradually he became known not merely
as the representative of Limerick, but also as " the
member for all Ireland." These were days when the
Catholic question began to make a stir and Ireland
was the standing difficulty of our Government. Mr•
Spring-Rice was the fast friend of O'Connell, and
as such took a prominent part in the discussion of
Irish affairs. He was a capable man of business, and
as the mouthpiece of a powerful Irish interest he
acquired with his party not a little influence in the
House of Commons. The result was that he, among
other Whigs, had his share of office when the party
in 1827 first attained to the Treasury Bench. He
was made Under Secretary of State for the Home
Department ; and when at length, in 1830, the
Whigs came fully into possession of their power he
became successively Secretary of the Treasury,
Secretary for the Colonies, and Chancellor of the
Exchequer. The first of these offices he shared at
one time with Mr. Edward Ellice, and afterwards
with Sir Charles 'Wood ; the second he held but for
a very short period ; the thirehe filled for nearly
five years, and it was in the discharge of its duties
that he became renowned. In all these posts he
showed an ability that was respectable, although
it was not respectable enough to save him from
ridicule and depreciation. Indeed, there was a
good deal about him to excite opposition and pre"
yoke criticism. He was a tedious speaker, for ex-
ample ; he was accused of jobbing ; and he was un-
dersized of stature. This last is, of course, a most
flagrant offence in the eyes of all satirists, and "
B." made much of it. Dr. Chalmers bad just then
come to London to deliver lectures, and in one of
his addresses he announced with all the emphasis
which characterised his oratory that the then age
was an age of little men, or, as he was supposed to
pronounce it, " leetle " men. "H. B."aeized upon
the idea, and at once exhibited a specimen of the
" leetle men" who governed the nation, Mr. Spring"
Rice being prominent among them. Sometimes/
however, he got praise for his smallness, as when ill,
combat with O'Connell, when O'Connell had turned
upon the Whigs, he fought and beat off the great
Irish giant, on which occasion his merits were dis-
played to the eyes of the world in a picture of little
David conquering Goliath. The real objection t°
him was not that his stature was low, but that his
finance was not great—that his speeches were dull,
and that his public spirit never rose very high. "
B." gave currency to a small pun upon his nag
which took the popular fancy—Risum teneatis? The
Whig Ministry was sorely ridiculed in those days,
and no one came in for a greater share of the satire
they provoked than Mr. Spring-Rice. He had al
last the good sense to see that his days were num'
bered, that the Whigs were falling, and that he him-
self would never succeed as a financier. He ceased
to be Chancellor, and made himself Comptroller of
the Exchequer. At any time he could be ousted
from the Chancellorship, the Comptrollership be
could hold for ever, with its £2,000 a year. He
not only fell softly, but he covered himself with the
robes of a peer, and the name of Spring-Rice
blossomed into that of Baron Monteagle.
In referring to these events, we naturally catch
something of the tone which belongs to the critieisra
of the period in which they occurred. But if we n 2114
,g.
not speak of Lord Monteagle as either a very strong
or a high-minded man, we must do him justice as:
shrewd one and as a good partisan. If he was not
a brilliant Minister, he was, at least, a useful one'
and if he failed as a financier in a time of great
difficulty, it must be remembered in his favour, tha
while Irish affairs were all important, he did good
service and fairly earnt the confidence of his friends.
After his retirement from the Cabinet he maY be
•
said to have almost retired into private life, only
that that about six years ago, when Mr. Gladstone
's
Budget was announced, he led the atr,
upon it in the House of Lords. Mr. Gladstone.
his friends naturally spoke with contempt .e'
attack upon the Budget led by a Whig financl
who had been laughed out of the Exchequer' bil_ts
this did not necessarily invalidate the criticism
,s
Lord Monteagle ; and it was no small tribute to
prudence that 21 years after lie had resigu..ea_rabie
Chancellorship of the Exchequer, a consicie
party in the Legislature—Whig and
uestion
willing to regard him as an authority on a q e 00
oZ finance. That was his last public appearance
the great stage to which he had been accustomed.
Tory
accustomed.--were

CORRESPONDENCE RESPECTINC THE SIIENANDOA.u.
—A blue-book, containing the papers relating o
.
the Shenandoah, originally the Sea King, _
before Parliament. The opening letter is from 31r.Adains_
to Earl Russell, April 7th, 1865, detailing the ravages of
the Shenandoah, to which Earl Russell replies, defending
the conduct of her Majesty's Government. Then comes
a•
proposal for a °' Claims Commission" to decide ura
prizes, and its refusal. The next part of the correspond-
ence is subsequent to the surrender of the Shenandoah
and Captain Waddell to the British Government. The
been lald
releaso of Captain Waddell and his crew call forth offers
from Mr. Adams to prove acts of piracy against them, but
the proof is not given, and Lord Clarendon closest
he Cor -
respondence by an offer to " co-operate gladly in Co
ing the truth ;" and here the vexed question closes for the
present,