The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-07-24
A British Administrator.

The Builders Of Greater Britain" series.
which is in course Of publication by Messrs.
Longmans. Green & Co.. is intended to present
brief biographies Of men who. without attain
ing world wide regulations. have played an i'm
portant part in the creation or organization Of
the British Empire. Among those whose lives
have been or are to be included in this collection
may be mentioned Sir Walter Raleigh, Rajah
Brooke, Admiral Phillip and Sir Stamford
Rafles. The volume before US. which has been
prepared by Mr.. WALTER FREwEN LORD. Is de-
voted to Sir Thomas Maitland. whose name is
associated with the only period when England
may be said to have been the absolute mistress
Of the Mediterranean. The author OF this
book is no hero worshipper. and indeed 1t
would be difficult to make OF Maitland a hero.
Assuredly he was not a brillianto or even a popu-
lar man. His biographer does not hesitate to
term him totally uneducated. At the time when
he began his career az a colonial administra-
tor the eccentric scribble that he dignihed
by the name Of his ~chirography is the handi-
work Of q man who does not know bow to
write. His signature reads Just as well upside
down as not. During an age. when classical
quotations were the only recognized mark Of
an educated gentleman. Maitland. throughout
a long parliamentary career and in the course
Of an official correspondence almost unparal-
leled for its voluminousness. never once broke
out into Latin. He never had time in his later
life to mend the defects Of his early education.
Throughout an official career Of twenty-seven
years his labors were herculean. and he had
no intervals OF leisure. Unlike some British
statesmen and administrators. he was quite in
capable Of turning good English into Indifferent
Latin. or Of discovering new species of plants
or animals. or Of writing t~reatises on the Apos-
tolical Succession. Life for Maitland meant
work, work that 1t would have crushed or
binary men even to attempt. His one diversion,
his one solace, was gross indulgence. He was
a great human force. controlled and directed
by a will Of iron. Principles he abhorred; they
were to him as q red flag to a bull. "Detest-
able principles" or ridiculous principles" he
sometimes writes Of. but never OF principles
that deserve respect 1t would be, however, a
mistake TO regard Maitland rs simply a gross
and brutal tyrant- His life was dIgniHed and
Illuminated by an unbending devotion to duty.
To one principle he gave a life's devotion. 1t
was the principle described in the language Of
the prayer book as the safety. honor and well
fare OF his Majesty and his dominions.
Thomas Maitland was q descendant Of John.
second Earl and first and only Duke Of Lau-
derdale. the well-known Minister Of Charles IL,
the initial letter Of whose title formed the last
letter OF the word "cabal." John Maitland's
two principal titles. those Of Duke and MARQUIS,
died with him. but his brother succeeded to tho
earldom. which during tho next four genera
tons sank to the condition OF a comparatively
insignificant Scotch peerage. The seventh Earl
altered this state Of things. James, Earl OF
Lauderdale. married Mary. daughter Of Alder
man Sir Thomas Lombe and granddaughter
of q weaver. She brought her husband $780,
900. but 1t was not SO much this addition
to their property that was to serve tho
Maitlands as the mlngling Of their law
less blood with tho sober and thrifty
strain Of the old worsted-weayer. No
great difference. however. was observable
in the eighth Earl. although he reRained the
old Maitland trick Of improving his fortune,
and nearly succeeded In getting himself made
Governor-Genera OF India. II was In Thomas,
the second son of the seventh Earl, the subject
OF this biography. that the daring and craft OF
the Maitlands showed itself blended with the
patience. the conciliatory temper. and the habit
Of compromise which go to mako the success
full man Of business. qualities that may well
have been inherited from the Alderman's
daughter. He was the first and perhaps the
only Maitland who was q sound fnancier, As
an administrator he loved to balance his budget
and to roll up O surplus. In the public ser
vice he was not only careful. but misery. In
private life. on the other hand. he lived Law
iShly. as his forebeaTs had done before him; bat
here again the habits OF the great noble were
corrected by the thriftiness OF his maternal
grandfather. Though lavish he was not ex-
travaRant That he was not parsimonious is
evident from the fact that at the time of his
death all he had to live upon was his pension
and the interest on 100000. Had he not been
a generous liver no could manifestly have laid
by more out of the income of $4,000 a year
which he enjoyed for the last eleven years OF
his public life.
L.
Thomas Maitland was born In January. 1859.
and. apparently. at the family seat. Hatton
House, In Midlothian. He was thus ono year
wounaAaathan M0Iaon and tan Vaara oldar than