DECEMBER 19, 1885.

HARPER'S WEEKLY.

835

tegrity of the empire will be repelled at once. Un-
doubtedly the vision of an Irish Parliament floats be-
fore the eyes of the Irish leader, and home rule can
not mean less than some form of local Irish govern-
ment. Imminent political events in Great Britain
are of very great significance and interest, for there,
as here, the distinctive policy of parties as such is not
defined or even calculable.

MR. VANDERBILT.

THE interesting fact in the career of Mr. VANDERBILT
seems to have been that the richest man in the country,
actively engaged in enterprises which are generally specu-
lative, was not a stock gambler, but sought to build up
solid and permanent values. This is Mr. VANDERBILT'S
praise. His intimate associates speak of his happy domes-
tic relations and his hidden charities. His public gifts
were to the Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, to the Col-
lege of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, and for the
removal of the Obelisk. His will may make other provi-
sions.

The demands upon him for gifts of money for every kind
of purpose were probably constant and enormous, and Mr.
DEPEW mentions the threatening letters which he often
received, but which affected neither his conduct nor his
courage. He was lampooned in a way which held him up
to public scorn as an enemy of "the poor man," but he ac-
cepted the slur as the condition of the personal prominence
due to great wealth.

Mr. VANDERBILT'S name, indeed, while he lived, was as-
sociated with great riches and great money-making enter-
prises rather than with the spending or giving of money
for public purposes. If this fact is generally remarked, it
is due to one of the pleasantest and most hopeful tenden-
cies of the time and country, the disposition to look upon
a great fortune as a great trust, and upon a rich man as a
steward of bounty for good uses.