The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-30

the homo market reached 30 shillings Q
quarter. In February, 1915, he carried q
motion for a return Of all Offices, civil and
military, in the colonies, under TIE infiu-
ence OF the Crown, in order that tlie peace
establishment and the emoluments oon-
nected Herewith should be investigated.
LANDLORDS activity in the House Of Com
mons did not prevent his e~vincing ~
and intelligent interest in tho rogress OF
science. Sir Humphry DaNy, who had
been a tutor Of Iambton under hi roof
OF Dr.. Beddoes at Bristol, was now at
the height Of his fame as a lecturer at the
Royal Institution! 1t was at Lambton's
collieries that the Davy safety lamp was
first tested. In 1917, young as he was C20,
his speeches began TO attract much atten-
ton at Westminster. as well as in the north
ern counties He was already identified in
the public mind with such outspoken
reformers as Horner, Macintosh and
Romilly, and the adhesion of a young man
Of ancient family and great wealth to the
new Radical party was felt to be significant.
Lambton believed with Fox that the end
OF all government is the happiness OF the
governed, and therefore he threw in his
lot with the people at a time when 20 mani
fest democratic sympathies meant to be
SuuInlou III IHSHlOI1dDle SOCIETY luIOuBu
good report and evil, however, he never
wavered in his allegiance to the principles
OF justice and liberty, which. though now
the common heritage, were still below the
horizon during the greater part Of Lord Dur
hams public life.
We shall better appreciate Lambton's
irmness when we recall that as late as 1918
Lord Grey never dreamed that III Wings
| ~ HE ltca.;nna ,r1pll ono.a soto 1owxa- Ha
even went so far as to think that his SON.
in-law. though he had youth On his side.
was doomed 20 spend his whole political
career in Opposition. As Mr.. Reid points
out in his fifth chapter, the strain on public
men in the closing years Of George Ill.
taxed the powers OF the strongest. Austen
litz sent Pitt TO his grave and both Fox
and Canni : died at an age when Glad
stone had not formed his first Cabinet.
Whitbread, who was one OF the most fear
less opponents OF the war, persisted by
his own hand within a month OF Waterloo:
while Romilly, who had struggled gal
lantly for the abolition OF the slave trade
and the reform OF the penal code, took
his own life in 1918. Castlereagh also COM
mitted suicide. Francis Horner, just after
he had risen from obscurity to a position
VI hdLiOLhi libpOI JuLCCt Wdr NOWu
by death at the age OF eight-and- thirty.
The Wings in general were, like Grey, dis
heartened and, becoming alarmed at the
violence OF the agitation out Of doors, were
beginning 10 beat a retreat, which threw
the cause Of parliamentary reform into less
capable hands. The truth is that the mid
die classes had rallied to the cry Of Law
and Order and the Wings, deserted for the
p,aU,a.N hv tka .hnzLaonara Ira-u hoalr
in their turn and lost the confidence Of the
people. Lambton, however. never wavered,
though it is not to be supposed that he
would svince much sympathy with the viru-
lent d%enunciations and reckless assertionso Of
men like Sir Francis Burdett and Orator
Hunt, who threw the reform movement
back by the distrust and contempt which
their TRADES awakened.
IL is evident shat the work lone by Lamb
ton during the reign OF George w. was Of a
twofold kind. Forming, as he did, a con-
Meeting link between the aristocratic Wing
leaders and the irresponsible Radical poll
ticians Of the great towns, he ultimately suc-
oeeded in convincing the Wings that with
out some real extension Of popular suffrage
the administrative and economic reforms
at which they aimed were hopeless. He
showed them at the same time that policy
no less than justice demanded from them
strenuous and sustained efforts for the en-
reimbursement OF the people. They were
slow to learn the lesson and Lambton was
often regarded by them with petulant i'm
patience, and even as a thorn in their side,
but he never renounced his allegiance to
what he regarded a. the first condition OF
progress and all through the reign OF
George Nv. he stood as al incarnate con-
science in the path OF the official leaders Of
his party. IL was on April IS. 1921, that
Lsmbton made his first great speech In the
House Of Commons on parliamentary re-
form, a speech which Canning, who at that
time was well disposed neither to the speaker
nor to his theme, privately admitted to be
perfect" Lambton drew a vivid picture of
the prevailing political corruption and de-
clared his readiness to prove that a handful
Of people, $50 all told, scattered up and down
the kingdom returned no less than $50 MEM
bers to an assembly which was supposed
to represent the will Of the nation. He
maintained that until the reign OF Henry vi.
all English freemen were entitled to vote
for representatives and in a historical sur
vey ne traced the process by which they
had been robbed Of their rights. He con-
Guided by bringing forward a scheme for
~triennial P~arliaments. the extension of the
suffrage to all holders of property. the di-
vision Of the country into electoral districts
and the disfranchisement Of rotten Dor
oughs.