OBITUARY

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 557, 12 July 1909, Page 5

OBITUARY

THE MARQUESS OF RIPON. ■ (By Tolcsnauh.-L'ross A«'soclnUon.-Opi>;rri|Ebt.l v (Rco. July 11, 5 5 p.m.) < ,' . IrOrulon, July 10. Tlio Marques'? of Ripou, who last yeai.' iotired from tlio office' of Lord Privy Seal' in the Liberal Cabinet, is dead, aged &V Tho cause of death was heart failure, : .ryOTABUE; C^EBi'.- : '^:.j: I.. The Marquess ef/Ripon.; a.Hoinan Catholic, eon.of Qeorge IV.'s Minister Frederick Robin-: son, T created Viscount Generic!), began his, diplomatic career, at' twenty-two,,and sitt' as M.r.. for HuH three, years later. ■' He becauio W S 'wrotary in. l?? 3, (Secretary for India in ' 18C6, find was made a marquis in .1871. after arranging the Treaty' of Washington, Other , great, offices he held were Viceroy Of India, First. Lord -of the 'Admiralty, and Secretary : for.the Colpnies.,';',.'. ' ;. ■/>.■,•;'■. ■ , . , ; . .-'..'■. Biographical, ' ; -:'•'; :^Ttio '•'- .Most"'• Honourable. George Frederick Samuel Robinson; Marquess" of Ripon; P.C K.G.. G.C.5.1., CLE.; D.L... P.C.L., (Hon! . Oxford), Litf, 1). (Hon: Victoria), F.R.S., Bart, long known os'Earl do Grey and Bipoh, was tho only ,son. of, the tot Earl: of Eipon, better known by his .original title of Viscount Gode. ■ irich (which he-bore when ho, held the post of Premier'for a few months in 1827), iJq was born in' London in October, ,1827, and began •' his political career; as attache to' a special mist siou to Brussels in 18©., : Under tho: courtesy j title of. .Viscount Goderichi he was returned; to.the House of .Commons for Hull Snlßs2,as-I an advanced Liberal. : In 1853, he was oleetodi for Huddorsfield; and; in 1857, for the W«'sti Riding of Yorkshire.: lb 1859, he succeeded! to his father's title,: and! in November of tho-sanioiyear-to.that' of his unole Earl.de Grey. A few months after entering the Upper, House, the Marquis was appointed Under-Secretary, fori for War, -i arid in February, 1861, Undcr-Secro-i' ■; tary for India.. Upon the.deatbof Sir Georgel Cornewall Lewis in ■ April, ISB3, ho '■ became i Secretary for-Wan wjth a seat in the Cabinet/ In: 18G6 he was. appointed Secretary'af State!-' ■ for India,', On ! tlio ■ advent: of the Gladstone' ' Administration in' December; 1868, LorcVßipoal was appointed- lord' president .of the Council,, and held,that office until within o,iw months, ,of the fall of i the Government,in'lß73, when) ho resigned on purely private grounds. In,* . 11809,vb.fi'was'created a Knight of the Garter.. ' Two years later, hec was, appointed ohainnan; of the High Joint-Commission on the AlabatcuM ' claims, < whioh arranged the Treaty of Washington,. 'In'recognition ef'his services he was'.elevated to; a niarquisate,, . ';. » '.'. ,',,, ;.- HisvVJce-Royaijy. \>; "' V: :' v ' ; :i - -x-vv'v f: In -1874 V Lofti Ilipon':became a convert' toiv Roman Catholicism, and this involved his! resignation of the office/of grand master of the English Freemasons. ' On'the return of.Mr.'Gladstone to.power in' 18S0, Lordßipon I' was appointed Viceroy of India.- Tho appointment : excited a i storm 7 of -."controversy,! ; moetings being hold iu.Exeter Hall and olse-i whereas a protest against the selection.of;*'~ Roman, Catholic to till: the vice-regal office. ■■"•' The now Viceroy extended the rights of tho; / natives and iii certain; directions curtailed-the' privileges of Europeans. Several of the measures introduced by him, notably the' 11-*'■■'; bert Bill of 1883, i the object of which was to i subject Europeans, to' trial by natiyo magis-:, trates' in certain cases,'irritated' tho Anglos ! Indian : population, and tho ' measure ';•' was 7 fierocly assailed;. There.probably never was aViceroy so unpopular among'Anglo-Indians or ( so popular with the natives, iOn Lord Ripon'a.' departure from Indiajin-November, 1854,. therewere extraordinary manifestations in his fav. our oil the part of the Hindoo population "of < <■ Bengal and Bombay, and more than a tliou-'• sand addresses wore presented to him.: On his; arrival in Isngland,,the marquis delivered a muubcr of vigirous'apeechos in defenco of his administration,: In 1886, he became First . Lord of the Admiralty in tho third Gladstone Ministry; and on tho return of the .-Liberals..;.' to power in .1892, ho was appointed. Colonial Secretary,' which post he continued * to hold .'until the resignation of the Government in 1595. ' Whou-the Libcral6 again took office in 1905, he became' Lord Privy Seal, arid, in , v October,...'- last,- 'having becomo• increasingly , feeble,' retired; For many years Lord Eipon' was president of the;, Yorkshire College of■.'.'• Science at Leeds, and ohairman of, the. West, , Rjding; County. Council.: :., ,'. . ~: . A Conservative View. ,: V:;:v i 'The "Pall Mall Gazette'! (Conservative) thus expresses itself concerning Lord Ripons—"Tho' two' greatest events of his'career have beein, iitra-Parliamcntary—his tactful chairmanship ' of the International Commission, under \fho» auspices the' Alabama' trouble resulted in th« Treaty of Washington,end his, Indian Vice, royalty, in 1880-81, In India, Lord Ripon, who. had always been an 'advanced' man ever ( sinoe' ' in youtli ho ranged himself,as a Christian Socialist •'. with Charles Kingsloy and Tom Hughes,\inado haste to repeal Lord Lytton's salutary press regulations, and altogether ranged hurisolf on- 'the side that commelids itself to Padgett, M.P., and the Indian Na-; tiorial Congress-rather than to those who bad more years',, administrative experience of tho Indian nativo's eapaoitios than, he had months'. Consequently, the fieroest Radicals have always , had more than. t sneaking kindness for Lord: ' Ripori, heightened by his Homo Rule trip to V Ireland with'.Mr.-Morley,. His opponents, however, have always.respected him as a con6cion..-..'.-tious if mis-guided Liberal peer,"".