Online Encyclopedia
Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.
EDWARD HENRY STANLEY
Online EncyclopediaEncyclopedia Home :: ECG-EMS
del.icio.us it!
|
See also:EDWARD See also: He declined the See also:honour, and they then took up the See also:idea that the next best thing they could do would be to elect some See also:great and wealthy See also:English See also:noble, not concealing the See also:hope that although they might have to offer him a See also:Civil See also:List he would decline to receive it. Lord Stanley was the prime favourite as an occupant of this See also:bed of thorns, and it has been said that he was actually offered the See also:crown. That, however, is not true; the offer was never formally made. After the fall of the See also:Russell See also:government in i866 he became foreign secretary in his father's third administration. He compared his conduct in that great post to that of a man floating down a See also:river and fending off from his See also:vessel, as well as he could, the various obstacles it encountered. He thought that that should be the normal attitude of an English foreign minister, and probably under the circumstances of the years 1866–1868 it was the right one. He arranged the collective See also:guarantee of the See also:neutrality of See also:Luxemburg in 1867, negotiated a See also:convention about the " See also:Alabama," which, however, was not ratified, and most wisely refused to take any See also:part in the Cretan troubles. In 1874 he again became foreign secretary in Disraeli's government. He acquiesced in the See also:purchase of the See also:Suez See also:Canal shares, a measure then considered dangerous by many people, but ultimately most successful; he accepted the See also:Andrassy See also:Note, but declined to accede to the See also:Berlin Memorandum. His part in the later phases of the Russo-See also:Turkish struggle has never been fully explained, for with equal See also:wisdom and generosity he declined to gratify public curiosity at the cost of some of his colleagues. A later See also:generation will know better than his contemporaries what were the precise developments of policy which obliged him to resign. He kept himself ready to explain in the House of Lords the course he had taken if those whom he had left challenged him to do so, but from that course they consistently refrained. Already in October 1879 it was clear enough that he had thrown in his See also:lot with the Liberal party, but it was not till March 188o that he publicly announced this See also:change of See also:allegiance. He did not at first take office in the second See also:Gladstone government, but became secretary for the colonies in See also:December 1882, holding this position till the fall of that government in the summer of 1885. In 1886 the old Liberal party was run on the rocks and went to pieces. Lord Derby became a Liberal Unionist, and took an active part in the See also:general management of that party, leading it in the House of Lords till 1891, when Lord Hartington became See also:duke of See also:Devonshire. In 1892 he presided over the Labour See also:Commission, but his See also:health never recovered an attack of See also:influenza which he had in 1891, and he died at Knowsley on the 21st of See also:April 1893. During a great part of Lord Derby's See also:life he was deflected from his natural course by the See also:accident of his position as the son of the leading Conservative statesman of the See also:day. From first to last he was at See also:heart a moderate Liberal. After making See also:allowance, however, for this deflecting agency, it must be admitted that in the highest quality of the statesman, " aptness to be right," he was surpassed by none of his contemporaries, or—if by anybody —by See also:Sir See also:George Cornewall See also:Lewis alone. He would have been more at See also:home in a state of things which did not demand from its leading statesman great popular See also:power; he had none of those " isms " and " prisms of See also:fancy " which stood in such See also:good See also:stead some of his rivals. He had another defect besides the want of popular power. He was so anxious to arrive at right conclusions that he sometimes turned and turned and turned a subject over till the See also:time for See also:action had passed. One of his best lieutenants said of him in a moment of impatience: " Lord Derby is like the See also:God of See also:Hegel: ` Er setzt sich, er verneint sich, er verneint See also:seine Negation.' " His knowledge, acquired both from books and by the See also:ear, was immense, and he took every opportunity of increasing it. He retained his old university See also:habit of taking long walks with a congenial See also:companion, even in See also:London, and although he cared but little for what is commonly known as society—the society of crowded rooms and fragments of sentences—he very much liked conversation. During the many years in which he was a member of " The See also:Club " he was one of its most assiduous frequenters, and his loss was acknowledged by a formal See also:resolution. His talk was generally See also:grave, but every now and then was lit up by dry See also:humour. The See also:late Lord See also:Arthur Russell once said to him, after he had been buying some See also:property in See also:southern See also:England: " So you still believe in See also:land, Lord Derby." " Hang it," he replied, " a See also:fellow must believe in something!" He did an immense See also:deal of See also:work outside politics. He was lord See also:rector of the University of See also:Glasgow from 1868 to 1871, and later held the same office in that of See also:Edinburgh. From 1875 to 1893 he was president of the Royal See also:Literary Fund, and attended most closely to his duties then. He succeeded Lord See also:Granville as See also:chancellor of the University of London in 1891, and remained in that position till his See also:death. He lived much in See also:Lancashire, managed his enormous estates with great skill, and did a great amount of work as a See also:local See also:magnate. He married in 187o Maria Catharine, daughter of the 5th earl de la Warr, and widow of the 2nd See also:marquess of See also:Salisbury. The earl left no See also:children and he was succeeded as 16th earl by his See also:brother See also:Frederick Arthur Stanley (1841-1908), who had been made a peer as See also:Baron Stanley of See also:Preston in 1886. He was secretary of state for See also:war and for the colonies and president of the board of See also:trade; and was See also:governor-general of Canada from 1888 to 1893. He died on the 14th of See also:June 1908, when his eldest son, Edward George See also:Villiers Stanley, became earl of Derby. As Lord Stanley the latter had been member of See also:parliament for the West See also:Houghton See also:division of Lancashire from 1892 to 1906; he was See also:financial secretary to the War Office from 1900 to 1903, and postmaster-general from 1903 to 1905. The best See also:account of the 15th Lord Derby is that which was prefixed by W. E. H. See also:Lecky, who knew him very intimately, to the edition of his speeches outside parliament, published in 1894. (M. G. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML. Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide. |
|
|
[back] EDWARD H |
[next] EDWARD I |