New-York tribune., 1913-05-18
Fourteenth Earl of Pembroke
LIZ REPRESENTATIVE OF RA CE AND CLAsS-WILToN HOUSE
IT.
copyright. 1918. by C. W. small.y.I
London, May I.

bo dies al sixty, was representative
,ho class which in these days is the
" =, of much invective and Oppres-
w nv the tempestuous Welshman
- hand lies heavy on England.
inst Lord Pembroke personally
, 70 was nothi to say; it is only as
- ,and-own.ns peer that he is swept
% the Welsh net. He was Con-
.rot,ve. but it is not yet a crime TO
Conservative, though to he the
sroer OF 10000 acres in Wiltshire or
ubere else in England is TO be the
I'm, Of legal extortion and pillage.
:. an a-.om of modern Radicalism
,s.t TO plumber the landlord is to ben
e, the tenant. Whether an estate be
IN or an managed the rule is the
NE. though indeed, the more gen
.rous the management the more the
landlord suffer.
lord Pembroke was known through
ont wiltshire as a good landlord; one
~ the best: considerate. liberal, just.
put Wilton was one of three great es-
.o,as-the other two were LOngleat
.rd Longford-which passed by death
ohout the same time; near the end of
.ho last century. The death duties fell
oo all three about the same time; and
IN each of the three the effect was the
came. Wiltshire is a county which has
suffered more than most others from
agricultural depression. over the
oraat area Of these three properties the
death duties and other taxes and
srnertaxes forced economies upon their
ovners. and part Of the burden fell
,scessarily and inevitably upon labor
srs shopkeepers, and a great variety
n other persons whose incomes proceed
IN whole or In part from these estates.
So that YOU have only to so about
among these people 10 hear what they
think of the Radical legislation by
which they were supposed to benefit. !
have talked with some of them at
times. / heard the same story from
all They agreed that the landlords
had done what they could. OF the
landlords they did not complain. 1t
was on the authors of the finance
which went far TO crush the landlords
that the tenants and laborers' curses
fell
This is hardly the moment for dis
.ussjng such matters. ! mention them
only as an element in an estimate OF
Lord Pembrokes position. / add this
only. that / have many times talked
with land owners and their tenants or
the relations existing between them. and
have never known an English land
ord who took a merely commercial or
business view Of them. Their view has
slways been a human view. Pre-emi-
nently so was Lord Pembroke's.
Where you find property harshly
managed. you will find it the property
CT recent purchaser; probably from
fortune made in business. a man who
all his life has been wont 10 measure
values by the higgling Of the market.
TO him the worth OF thing is what II
will fetch. To the owner who inherits
not only land but a moral sense of his
responsibility 10 those dependent on
the land and on its owner no such
doctrine seems true. He recognizes his
obligations He does not turn out an
old tenant because new one Will pay
him larger rent. His attitude Is not
commercial but patriarchaL The deal
ings are between man and man. In the
mind Of such a man as Lord Pembroke
the doctrines which appealed 10 him,
the teachings on which he acted, were
not those Of the law courts, but Of the
New Testament.
Wilton is very striking example OF
The continuity Of life which exists in
England: and Of the permanency OF
race These Herberts have been here
for near four hundred years. They be-
long to Wilton as much as Wilton be-
longs TO thCm. They are Of the soil.
Between the Herberts OF to-day and
The Herberts Of the sixteenth century
there is an unbrOkcn line of descent.
They have married and intermarried
with other great families. The late
Earl married in 1877 Lady BeatriX
LambtOn, sister Of the third Earl OF
Durham. The Lambtons are one Of
those county families whose position
owes nothing to rank or title; indeed
owes so much less than nothing that
ine first Earl was thought TO have
derogated by accepting first a Barony
IN 1873 and then an Earldom in 1850.
II tradition may be trusted, the family
protested, and Durham County felt its
dignity impaired But the first Earl
oi PembrOl dates from 1551. He was
statesm n-sOldier. 1t has been a
race Of ST. lesmen. Of soldiers, Of loyal
servants " the Crown. The eighth
Earl was Lord High Admiral OF Great
Britain. The most recent Minister was
sidney Herbert, Minister Of War, sec
ono son Of the eleventh Earl, whose
eldest son became thirteenth Earl, and
MS younger the fourteenth. The pres
eht and fifteenth Earl. known here
loiore as Lord Herbert, married, in
tSV4' Beatrice. daughter Of the late
lord Alexander Paget, sister TO the
vfesent Marques Of Anglesey, and
'hey have a daughter and three sons.
Ance the original grant by Henry
sll. think in 1881, to the Herbert Of
me day, the land has always been
'nelrs, and Wilton House has been