New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-05-13

ROBERT HAMILTON'S DEATH
AND HIS CURIOUS CONNEC-
TION WITH THE ORIGINAL
HOME RULE SCHEME
IN 1856.
London April o.
rora Rosebery's ecclesiastical promotions have
nerhaps pleased his own party more than the
church His latest II not universally liked here
NAV be popular In America. He has made cur
fr,.nd Archdeacon Farrar Dean of Canterbury
THE new Dean" remarks a conservative critic
With some asperity. differs from most OF Lord
f,osehery's recent ecclesiastical appointments IN
NOT being either Christian Socialist or Rad-
cal organizer" The same critic says OF the new
Dean: He has been prolinc writer on tneo-
LOGICAL subjects. but his works are more highly
esteemed by serious young ladies thah Dy pro-
faseed theologians" The truth is that Providence
intended Archdeacon Farrar to be writer on
"rbe Daily telegraph" and a colleague Of Mr..
George Augustus Sala
He has missed his vocation and written Life
., Christ" instead suppose it may be said with
out asperty that this is a vaueless book. mean
y.,ueless from the historical or religious point OF
viev II was not valueless as a commercial spec
u,oton n ran through some five and twenty or
thirty editions 1t gave rise to an open newspaper
controversy between Archdcacon Farrar and his
publishers Messrs Cassell. The Archdeacon
thought his share of the profits OF the iive and
twenty or thirty editions very meagre, as II prooa-
bly was Messrs Casse conduct their pupllsnlng
business on the strictest business principles They
had made bargain with the author, ana 10 that
bargain they adhered; with II you may oeieVe
the author. a degree of unyelding rgor which did
cred,t 70 their conviction that bargain is a bar.
gain and that business is business. l seem to re-
member that one of the firm died about that time
and left behind him something like two millions
and a half-doars. not sterling. AT any rate.
the Archdeacon considered himself ill-used' ana
said So Ii was not an edfying dispute. nor does
II promote piety, 10 make the life or Christ the
pivot OF a financial dispute. 1t reminds one
little OF the Temple and the money changers
whom Christ turned out OF IT.
The Archdeacon has written other books many
OF them also popular: not one Of them fortunate
enough to win the approval Of the judicious his
Greek Grammar excepted. 1t Is an odd exception
till you recollect that he was once schooimaster
However. he has preached for some years Al 81.
Margaret's in Westminster and there people
who like TO hear him: eminent people. too. The
late Speaker made him his chaplain and the new
"
the Deanery Of the greatest Cathedral In England
falls into his lap. Not they say, very lucrative
place Worth some $1,000 a year. with deductions
owing 10 agricultural distress. II seems not quite
clear whether he must resign his canonry OF West
minister and the Archdeaconry and the rectorship
Of st. Margaret's. and the chaplaincy 10 the
Speaker: which together are worth more than the
Deanery But then. the Deanery. as the organ OK
the Nonconformist Conscience points out, Is the
direct road to a Bishoprc. II is not quite clear
why the Nonconformist Conscience should con-
Germ itself with the distribution OF Church patron
age: or would not be II politics also had not some
thing to do with the matter The Prime Minis
ter's appointments. are told whether eccle-
siastical, judicial, academical. or political. have
been uniformly happy" That is the true note OF
the true party hack which thinks everything for
the best in the best OF all possible political or
CARNATIONS. Praise your own side. abuse the
other sde-this is the whole duty Of man when the
edits an organ. 1t is rel!giously discharged
Dean Farrar gets the benefit OF this maxim
which perhaps he does not need. For there really
are large numbers OF persons who think him a
fine writer and a historian as we'll as a divine.
They are to be envied. The person never to be
envied Is he who has 10 take critical views.
Sir Robert Hamilton. who died this morning, will
always have a niche in historical annals as one of
the less known authors Of that policy Of Home
Rule for Ireland which Mr. Gladstone finally
adopted. Earlier than that. his name associates
itself with the awful tragedy of Phoenix Park.
When Mr.. Burke was murdered. Sir Robert. then
permanent; Secretary OF the Admiralty. was APP
pointed In his place permanent Under Secretary
for Ireland The permanent Under Secretary Is
the man vino. in all matters of routine, really
Burke was murdered because he governed it in
a way of which the Fenians and physical force
patriots did not approve. That four years
before Home Rule had any place in practical poll
tics; in other words. four years before Mr. Glad
stone. beaten in his attempt 10 get majority on
other grounds surrendered TO Mr. Parnel and
submitted to return to power as Mr.. Parnells
nominee.
Sir Robert Hamilton is supposed to have in
iuenced Lord Spencer. the Viceroy OF Ireland.
and Lord Spencer to have influenced Mr..
Gladstone l do not think that true ac-
count Of the course OF events 1t may or
may not be true that Lord Spencer once said TO
Hamilton that he was beginning To think Home
Rule might have 10 come. and that Hamilton
avowed himself already convinced OF its inevita-
bility. But 1t was. in any case Mr.. Gladstone who
was the instrument of Lord Spencer's conversion:
not Lord Spencer who brought over his chief. l
think. Also that Hamilton's influence in the mat
ter has been ove-rated. Mr.. Gadstone's mind was
of course the deciding mind, and the consdera-
tons which governed Mr. Gladstone were those OF
politics. and connected themselves directly with
the question of his return to office Prime Min
lister. and his conviction that not otherwise than
by adopting Home Rule the Irish vote TO be
won. and that not otherwise than by the Irish
vote could he again become Prime Minister.
All the considerations which Sir Robert Hamil-
ton could bring TO bear were administrative The
value of his testimony and OF mis- contribution to
the scheme Of Home Rule was administrative.
The argument ran thus ut has always been said
that under Home Rule Ireland could not be gov
crned: order could not be maintained; the minori-
ty could not be protected against the vindictive
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