The Washington herald., 1911-09-16
LORD HALSBURY AT S6.

| Lord Halsbury, who has been before
the public so much of late as the leader
Of the die hard" peers, has celebrated
the eighty-sixth anniversary of his birth
on September g. The former lord chan
cellor is fond of telling of the prominent
part which the figure 81 plays in the
chief events of his life He was born
in 1925, took his B. A. degree at oxford
In 1852. proceeded NJ. A. in 1855, was
called to the bar in 1850 became a Q. C.
in 1855, a bencher Of the Inner Temple
in the same year, chairman of Carmar-
thenshire quarter sessions lS75-1SS5, So
licitor general 1875, and lord chancellor
! first time) 1855.
| With the exception of Lord Elbow,
who occupied the woolsack for a quarter
OF century. and Lord Hardwicke, who
was lord chancellor for nineteen years,
Lord Halsbury held the great seal Of
Great Britain longer than any other
chancellor since the days of the con-
quest, his record being seventeen years.
In that time Lord Halsbury received
$4,000 as salary, besides $4,000 as pen
! sion.
Six years ago at the farewell banquet
rendered to Lord Halsbury by the Bench
! and Bar Of England. Mr.. Choate. the
eloquent American Ambassador, said
Time, like an ever-rolling stream.
| bears all its sons away, but the lord
chancellor stems the tide of time. In
stead of retreating. like the rest of US,
before its advancing waves. he is actually
| working his way up stream" What
! Mr.. Choate said in 1905 is true Of Lord
Halsbury to-day. He, at the age OF
eighty-six, is what Lord Campbell de-
clareh Lord Lyndhurst to be at eighty
! AS bright as a bee" His physical con-
| dition and his mental powers show no
sign of decay.
1t is not generally known that in his
I younger days Lord Halsbury. as Mr.
Giffard. chiefly practiced at the criminal
bar. His knowledge of law was so deep
| that he was the leading advocate at the
| old Bailey" That famousS wit. Mr..
Montagu Williams, in his autobiography.
relates how one of Hardinge Giffard' s
contemporaries at the Central Criminal
Court bet that within twelve years
Giffard would become attorney general,
and that before. he ended his career he
would be lord chancellor"
In his early days Lord Halsbury mar
rowly escaped death. Here. again, the
figure So comes in. While defending
a prisoner at the Old Bailey in 1857 an
insane clergyman fired a revolver at
him, but fortunately missed his mark,
Lord James of Hereford, whose death
is announced. had a brilliant career at
the bar and in politics, and If he never
was quite in the front rank, either as
a lawyer or a statesman, this is due
rather to the fact that the present gen.
Grafton was exceptionally prolific in great
and brilliant men. His abilities were OF
a high order and were aided by polish
ed manner Without being a great
orator, he was a fluent. forcible, and lu-
cid speaker, and an adept in marshaling
complicated facts-a gift which he never
showed to more advantage than in his
great speech before the Parnell commits
sion, which was a worthy reply to Rus
sells more famous effort. though II did
not quite rise to the same level OF ora
tory He made some first-rate political
speeches. both on the platform and in
Parliament, and as attorney general he
was a most useful member of Mr.. Glad
stones second admnistrat ton.
But what pre- eminently distinguished
Lord James was his independence OF
character, his straightforwardness. and
his incapability of departing by a
hairs breadth from what he held TO be
the right line. The episode for which
he will always deserve to be remem-
bered was his renunciation of the
woolsack when he severed himself
from Mr.. Gladstone over the home rule
question: but this incident was only
in keeping with the entire course of
his career. both at the bar and in Par
Lament
Lord James succession in 1885 was
inevitable. for he was essentially
Wing. and a man of cautious tempera-