The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-08-23

he was never to depart, that OF an uHl-
fiinching Conservative and a jealous
Churchman. OF use, also, TO his future
career, was the experience acquired
when, after leaving the university, he
entered on an extensive round Of travel,
which embraced Australasia. II should
too be noted as an incident that, no
doubt, had some influence on his charac-
ter and attitude toward the world that,
for many years after his entrance into
public life, he was obliged to exc out
very narrow income by contributions
to the Saturday Rerie,c and other news
papers. The breadth Of view and the
capacity OF detachment from current
politics which were to differentiate him
so sharply from DrsRAELI may be ac-
counted for when we recall that he was
by temperament and habit a student,
and that, even when struggling for a
livelihood, he did not lose the interest
i'm science which was ultimately to justify
his assumption of the presidency of the
British Association.
About all that Lord ROBERT CECIL s
birth and rank did for him in the early
years of his adult life was to give him
q seat in the House of Commons. In
1868 he was returned, at the age OF %,
for the family borough Of Stamford,
which, as readers OF TENNYsoN re-
member, adjoins Burghley House, the
seat Of the Marquis of Exeter, tho head
OF the elder branch Of the CECIL family.
His address to the electors declared
him to be what, until his death, no re-
manned, Conservative, warmly at
tached to the Church Of England, eager
to associate religion with education
and anxious for social and sanitary
improvements. His first speech, which,
as it happened, was on university re-
form, was delivered two months after
he took his seat, in February, 1854, and
was moderately successful. During the
next two years he took a busy part
in the advocacy OF domestic reforms,
and moro than once showed that he
had given careful attention to foreign
affairs. Those who have been accus-
toned to regard Lord SALISBURY as an
unwavering opponent Of the extern
sions of the Parliamentary franchise
which took place during his public
life, have omitted to note the urious
fact that Lord ROBERT CEcIL's
first legislative proposal, launched in
1857, was that electors should not be
obliged to go to any particular polling
place, but should be permitted to re-
cord their votes by means Of voting
papers filed in before a Justice of the
Peace. The proposal, we need not
say. was rejected.
Another incident in Lord ROBERT
CEcILs career, often lost sight Of, is
his support OF Mr.. GLADsToNE's motion
approving OF the unification of Moldavia
and Wallachia. Still another fact which
indicates that even Lord SALISBURY was
not a miracle of consistency was his
defence in 1859, when the Conservatives
were transiently in office, of DIsRAELI's
Reform bill, made up Of fancy fran
chises.' This bill Lord ROBERT CECIL
supported by arguments which he had
set forth in the Oxford Essays for
1858, but, as the bill failed to meet with
the approval of the House OF Commons,
it upset the Government.
It was not long afterward that he may
be said TO have made his mark, and to
have convinced the House Of Commons
that he was ofthestuff whereof Ministers
are made. We refer to the extraordinary
energy with which he maintained that
the British Constitution had been vio-
ated when Mr.. GLADSTONE, then Chan
cellor of the Exchequer in PALMERsToN's
last administration, undertook to para
lyze the opposition of the House OF Lords
by including the abolition of the paper
duties in the Budget bill. From that
time he was always listened to. and soon
became known as one of the most formid-
able members of the Tory Opposition,
though his fondness for irony and sar-
casm and his congenital inability to
adopt conciliatory tone were not cal
culated to make converts to his views,
or to attract a personal following within
the ranks Of his own party
Hitherto the incessant pressure Of the
res unguste domi. or difficulty of making
both ends meet, had forced Lord ROBERT
CECIL to recognize that an accommodate
ing temper, could he by any possibility
acquire it, would be useful to him in his
public life. In June, 1855, however
his native inclination to stiff-neckedness
was irremediably confirmed. for by
the death of his elder brother he be-
came Viscount CRANBoRNE and heir
to the Marquisate of Salisbury. This
was the turning point in his life, for
Tories will brook from a great noble
what they would not bear from Com
moner, and, after Lord DERBY's death,
there was no member of the House of
Peers, actual or prospective, who, in
respect of birth and intellect, could be
compared with the man who was to be-
come Lord SALISBURY. In July. 1868.
he was admitted to the Cabinet under
Lord DERBY's administration as Seore-
tary Of State for India. There had never
been any love lost between the son of
the Marquis Of SALISBURY and BENJAMIN
DIsRAELI, though the former had felt
constrained to advocate the latter
"fancy franchises Now that he knew