Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1908-08-08
Quintet of Aged British
Peers Refuses to be Oslerized
The of Army Member of Cabinet One of
Richest of Londons Ground Landlords Most Hated of Irish
Landowner, and Father Of House of Lords Make Up the Lot
Special correspondence.

though they years ago passed
the Osler limit still are hale,
robust and active. both In body and
mind. Two OF them are oetogerarllns
and the others have left the thraescore-
enG-ten pos, behind They are the
Lord prlvy Seal, one Of tr.a richest
of London's ground landlords, the
father Of the house Of lords the best
hated Of Irish landowners and the COM
mander-in-chIef of tho British army.
The Marquis OF Ripon, lord prlvy
seal, by his retention in the Asluth
cabinet adds still further to a remark
able record which he holds The VEN
cradle lord, who shortly viii celebrate
his eighty second birthday. has been
member of every Liberal cabinet.
with single exception. OF the last 80
years. Tho only reason that cln be
assigned for the single exception is
the very go0d one that during Glad
stones second administration Lord
Rlpon was in India governing the ma
tives.
This peer might be said to have con
tracted tho office habit. He has be-
como fixture and nobody has the
heart to turn him out. H.a ls a brilliant
ornament to his party but nobody ever
accused him OF being much more, His
present post is an unpaid one-the only
one in all the cabinet which does not
command generous salary But there
IS fitness IN the case OF Lord Ripon,
for his emolument is In proportion to
his lahors The duties of the Lord
Privy Seal keep him about as busy
as an iceman In Greenland. Theoretic-
ally he is the custodian of the privy
seal. and there was n time in the dim
and distant past when the seal had to
be attached to all royal grants or pa
tents before such documents could re-
ceve the final authority OF the great
seal. But IN the hurry and hustle of
notwithstanding strenuousness, the
middle step has been abandoned and
documents go direct from sovereign to
great chamberlain. keeper of the great
seal. The office of lord prlvy seal sur
wives. however. like the appendix in
the human body with no known need
for its existence.
MANY CABINET POSITIONS
But there are few cabinet positions
which Lord Ripon has not filled at
some time in his career. He has been
secretary Of state for war on two oc-
cnsions. secretary of state for the coll
onies, twice, and in two Rdminlstra-
lions has been president of the coun-
Gil In addition he has been secretary
OF state for India and first lord OF
the admiralty once, Lord Ripon Is
eminently lifted, SO far as the eSper-
pf nhiaa IN the whole
British empire all by himself
Just why this peer should have been
retained In all the Liberal cabinets
since Palmerston. nobody seems to
know. He is hardly what one would
call brilliant man. One politician
told me that the only reason he could
think OF was that Lord Ripon was
so devilish amlable that one found
It impossible to quarrel with him or
offend him" Another told me that
breaking with the old marquis would
be like breaking with the venerable
past" and British politicians are
much too conservative to do anything
like that.
LORD RIPON'S RECORD.
Lord Ripon has done two things
for which he viii be remembered. He
presided over the joint committee
which drew up the Treaty OF Wash
ington and which settled the Alabama
claims with the United States; and he
earned the eXecration of many Eng
lishmen by the manner in which he
ruled India during his term as viceroy
For the former service he received
his marquisate from Queen Victoria;
for his latter conduct he always VIII
be known, In the words of ktpllng,
as the weakest OF all the vlceroys."
The objections against his manner of
running the British dependency seem
to be that he preferred the olive
branch to the iron hand. He treated
the natives as equals, frequently
bowed to them In tho streets of Bonn
bay and made himself generally pop
ular with the Indians but terribly
unpopular among his own country
men. He Is reported to have said once
that the only European who approved
of his policy was his Scotch gardener.
CREATED SENSATION
The aged poor wan converted 10
Roman Catholicism In 1874. and there
by created n sensation in Church OF
England circles. At his country scat,
Studloy Royal, he runs O modern dairy.
and his milk carts bearing the sign
1.-THE Most Noble tho Marques OF
Ripon,' carry his produce all over the
noighborlng country. Ills butter has
become famous FOR ito purity. Among
hts other products is Earl de Grey, his
only son. and tho finest game shot IN
the countryo n not in the whole world.
Lord Ripon owns 1850 acreg ana Is
supposed 20 be possessed Of consider
able wealth,
BOUGHT FARM CHEAP.
To the fact that his great grand
mother desired diet OF asses milk |
tho present Viscornt PorJmHn who |
has just been married IN his 18TH year, |
600 "A year. The old lady was In bad |
the milk FOR hor, whcreupon her hus- |
ground around what Is now known ms |
BryanBton square Tor about $4,000, |
and stocked II with drove OF don
keys, Today, although II is not FOR sale
AT my price conservative estimate
OF itE value would be not under $780,
900 900, and it, aged owner disputes
the title Of rlchest OF London land
owners with the Duke Of Westminster
aud Lord Howard do walden
ENTHUSIASTIC HUNTER.
Resides Lord Portman's many other
titles he holds the unohicia ono OF
Lord OF Baker Street" which ariias
out OF his $40 acres In tbs West End
OF London Auditing on Baker street,
Portnlun, BrYanston aad Montaaue
squares, lie also n referred to fire.
rucntly as the Titan OF the hunt
Ing fields" because of tho fact that for
more than 80 yenrR he has been master
OF the Pofunan Hunt and today, do
spite his advanced yca-u. fiaes iust
a..tf u q a " ffsrl liz