A VETERAN STATESMAN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14110, 12 July 1909, Page 5

A VETERAN STATESMAN.

MARQUIS OF RIPON'S DEATH. By Telegraph.—Press Association.—

(Received July 11, 5.5 p.m.)

London, July 10. The death has occurred suddenly, from heart failure, of the Marquis of Ripon (late Lord Privy Seal), in his 83rd year.

The Marquis of • Ripon was the descendant of an ancient Yorkshire family, whose founder (William Robinson) has been described as "an ; eminent Hamburg merchant," who was Mayor of York, and its representative in Parliament. The father of the subject of, the present notice was Leader* of the House of Lords, arid for a brief period . Prime Minister. The Marquis of Ripon was born on October 24, 1827, and in accordance with his family's tradition he was destined to make his mark in * Parliament and diplomacy. In 1852 he was elected member for Hull, as Viscount Goderich, and he subsequently sat for Huddersfield. ' . In the , next , Parliament Viscount ' Goderich again changed his constituency, sitting ■ for- the West Hiding of Yorkshire for the years 1857-9. In the latter year he succeeded: his father in the Earldom of Ripon, and also came into the titles of his uncle, as third Earl de Grey and fourth Baron Grantham. Earl de Grey and Ripon, as he was now known, obtained office for the first time as Under-Secretary for War, (18591861) and from 1861 to 1863 , he was Under-Secretary for India. During this time the Alabama . dispute occurred; and upon the appointment of a jointcommission for the discussion of - interna-' tional ditterences between England and America, Lord. de Grey consented to act as president. This; Commission ■ met at Washington, in the spring of 1871* and, thanks largely to the ; personal tact of Earl de Grey, an agreement was reached and embodied in the celebrated Treaty of Washington, signed May 8, 1871, which may justly be said to have been the opening of a new epoch in international - relations. For his share - in' that , noble cause," Earl de Grey and Ripon was promoted Marquess of Ripon. Lord Ripon, as Earl de Grey, after being Under-Sec-retary for India, , had three, years as head of the War Department from 1863 to 1866, and then was Secretary for India in the latter, year... In 1874 the ; Marquess of \ Ripon took a step which created quite a sensation at the time. He had retired from the Government the year before, and in the beginning of September;. (1874) he - resigned the post of grand master of the Freemasons, which he had. filled for the previous three years. This resignation was immediately followed by the news that he had joined the Roman Catholic community. His appointment as Viceroy of India in 1880 provoked criticism, but he proceeded to India, and held the office till the end of 1884. His administration did not satisfy 'the Anglo-Indians, and at the end of a great fight over the Ilbert Bill the position of Lord Ripon as Ciceroy had become almost untenable,' and' he withdrew from the Governor-Generalship in December, 1884. In the short-lived Liberal Administration of 1886, the Marquess was given the portfolio of the First Lord of the Admiralty, and adopted and supported the policy of Home Rule. " He came back again to office as an unrepentant Home Ruler in the Liberal Government of 1892, when he was appointed Secretary for the Colonies. '' The veteran statesman again took office as Lord Privy Seal in the late Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman's Government, in December, 1905, being then in his 79th year". He resigned the. office last year, owin|[ to • failing ■ health. Besides his political distinctions,'- the Marquess of Ripon has taken mueh' interest in agriculture, and the duties .of a great landowner. He- was Lord-Lieutenant of the North Riding of Yorkshire from 1873. In 1895-6, he acted as Mayor of Ripon. Since 1860 he has been hon. colonel of the First Battalion West York Rifles, and holds the V.D. He has also held the office of High Steward of Hull. His heir, Earl de Grey, K.C.V.0., was born January 29, 1852, and sat formerly for Ripon as' M.P. (1874-1880). Since 1901 Earl de Grey has been treasurer to the Queen's household.