New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-08-03

ana Conservative he remained TO the
emu Needless to say that he was an
opponent of the mad finance which be-
gan with Sir William Harcourts Death
Duties Budget of 1894. and reached.
Tor the present, its height. or its depth.
with the Budget of 1909; parent of
woes yet to come. He owned at one
time nearly million and a half acres
mostly In Sutherland with large Eng
lish possessions in Staffordshire. where
Trentham was situated, and Shrop-
| shire. in which lies the pleasant domain
of Lilleshall: the home Of his English
| ancestors. AS land owning became
under these assaults an unsound bust
ness. he sold large tracts in Sutherland
and bought large tracts in Canada.
where the possession OF the soil is not
yet treated as an offence nor penalized
! by intolerable imposts. Stafford House
in London was sold only this year to
Sir William Lever; Of which queen
Victoria said TO the late Duchess: Il
come from my house to your Palace
The spacious splcndors of Stafford
House had. on the whole, no rival in
London, and splendid were the enter
tainments given there for some thirty
years past. For these the Duke did
not perhaps greatly care. yet there, as
AZ Dunrobin and formerly at Trentham,
he was q perfect host
dens and park are historic, if only be
cause they are pictured in Disraells
Lothian; the pollution Of the river
Trent. which runs through the grounds,
making it impossible as residence;
Twice he offered It as gift, first TO
the Staffordshire County Council, and
then TO the Borough of Stoke-on-Trent.
Both thought it too remote, and finally
the house was pulled down and the
land sold. The memories OF II remain.
For years and years Trentham had
been not only a house Of many hospl-
talities. but a centre Of continuing
English charities by both the Duke and
the Duchess. The Potteries profted by
their gifts and untiring labors 10 I'M
prove the industrial conditions of lie.
And II was the poisoning or the river
by the Potteries which in the end
drove them from Trentham; all
sewage and other schemes coming to
naught. One more of those ironies the
store of which in the general order OF
things I'm this chaotic universe seems
inexhaustible.
Dunrobin. too, had it's tragedy,
though IL was rather Sutherland than
Dunrobin. and befell in the lifetime
Of the late Duke. He was man
whose energies were too little tempered
by Judgment. He had theories that the
land Of rock and desolation when
Welded no harvest might be persuaded
by steam ploughs and other contriN-
ances 10 be fertile on these theories
he spent three or four millions OF
which no part was productive, except
in the way Of mortgages on the other-
wise stubborn earth. Hence. in Whoie
or in part, embarrassment from when
believe II has never to this day been
entirely free.
These dry facts are essential TO
lust appreciation Of the Dukes char-
acter and life work. If you accept 'he
Radical teachings Of to-day, he was
one Of the idle rich; since all the rlch
are idle. though all the idle may not
he rich. l wrote last year OF the
Duchess Of Sutherland as Inc luie
Duchess. a wife who has been her nus
band's associate in his good works and
has organized great charities ana
humanitarian industries or her own.
She was to have opened StaHoru
House Yesterday for the last tinle IoI
an afternoon open-air sale OF harms,
Lewis. shetland and Sutherland
tIornesnuns. an enterprise which for
wears past has brought comfort. ana
prosperity to great districts once des-
titute.
ANYBODY who has been a guest al
Trentbam or Dunrobin can bear VII
ness 10 the kindly activities OF his most
and hostess in behalf of their own
people and Of the countryside. an
cure Mr.. Choate has not forgotten MS
eyneriences at Trentham, nor nave
his audiences forgotten the speeches.
bc then made in promotion or recog-
r;,ion of the beneficent undertakings
~ the Duke and Duchess then ana
FOR. MANY wears before and since III
nrogress. The Duke had given a LII
brarv and club building to Longtoh,
ora of the six adjacent towns ana
there was a dinner to celebrate the
onepinr Of il. Mr.. Choates oratoTy
,,as the chief ornament Of that occa-
sion. but what most impressed US al
there and all about that neighporhood
was the affectionate devotion OF the
neople 10 the landlord whom MT
IIoyd George would have his country
mon regard as a relic of feudal bar
barism.
II was the same at Dunrobin' ana
moro ca Mine is not hearsay test-
monv but that of an eyewitness
have met and talked with tenants ana
villagers in numbers, men ana women
and children, all with faces OF content
,oent. all Astounding in their loyal at
tacbment to him who was both lahd-
,ord and friend. They knew ne
a., ,ordar than they did; and FOR