year Graham was invited to stand for Carlisle. The Cumbrians were proud of numbering among themselves a man of such distinction, and were not unwilling to have an opportunity of taking him back. Graham entered into the situation, and happily began his first election speech by the words, ‘Well, gentlemen, the wanderer has returned.’ After this he was triumphantly elected. Soon after the meeting of parliament Lord Derby was defeated, and in Lord Aberdeen's coalition ministry Graham returned to his original post at the admiralty, where he resumed his endeavours after administrative efficiency. The outbreak of the Crimean war threw much onerous work on the admiralty, and Graham was responsible for the choice of Sir Charles Napier to command the fleet in the Baltic. Sir Charles did not relish the inactivity to which he was reduced by the strength of the fortresses of Cronstadt and Sveaborg, which he was forbidden to attack, except in conjunction with the French fleet. The French refused to join in the attempt, and Sir Charles loudly complained on his return of his treatment by the admiralty. It does not seem that Graham was to blame; the shutting up of the Russian fleet was a service of sufficient importance without the glory of an attack upon fortresses which would have cost much bloodshed without an adequate return. From the charge of inefficiency in the conduct of the war which led to the fall of Lord Aberdeen's government in January 1855 the admiralty, under the management of Graham, was excluded, and illness prevented him from taking part in the debate on Mr. Roebuck's motion. In the government as reconstituted by Lord Palmerston Graham retained his office; but when he found that the majority of the cabinet were disposed to agree to the appointment of a committee of inquiry he resigned, together with Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Sidney Herbert, on the ground that it was detrimental to the public service to carry on a war with a committee sitting to discuss its conduct. From that time Graham took his seat below the gangway. His health was failing, and he had no desire for office again. At the election of 1857 an attempt was made to unseat him from Carlisle, and Graham had determined to retire from political life. But a sense that he was being dictated to unworthily stung him to make an effort, and few men have ever enjoyed a greater testimony to the force of their personality than did Graham, when by one or two speeches he won back the confidence of his constituency. In October 1857 Lady Graham died, and Graham took only a slight part in public affairs during her illness. From this time his health grew feebler, and he suffered from spasms of the heart. In spite of this he attended to his duties in the House of Commons, and was active on committees. In the vacation of 1861 he went back to Netherby a broken man, and died on 25 Oct.
Graham was as a speaker exceedingly polished, but tended to pomposity, and carried the habit of quotation to inordinate lengths. His speeches were enlivened by epigrams and by passages of splendid rhetoric; but their construction was always artificial. He is remembered as an orator for a number of brilliant sayings rather than for any great speech. He never succeeded in getting outside himself and identifying himself with his audience. Similarly his political judgment was too much swayed by personal considerations, and he said of himself: ‘In a party sense it must be owned that mine has been a devious career.’ He was too self-conscious in all that he did to be a great statesman; but he was an impressive personality in the House of Commons, and was an able administrator. Where he failed he failed not through want of foresight or political intelligence, but through a defect of personal sympathy.
[C. S. Parker's Life and Letters of Sir James Graham, 1907; McCullagh, Torrens's Life and Times of Sir James Graham, 1863.]
GRAHAM, JANET (1723–1805), poetess, was born near Lockerbie, Dumfriesshire, in 1723. Among other pieces she wrote ‘The Wayward Wife,’ which was once popular. She died in Edinburgh in April 1805, aged 82.
[Irving's Book of Scotsmen, p. 179.]
GRAHAM, Sir JOHN (d. 1298), warrior, the second son of Sir David Graham of Dundaff, by Annabella, daughter of Robert, earl of Strathearn, was friend of William Wallace. He joined Wallace at an early period in his career, and assisted him so manfully that Buchanan says of him that next to Wallace he was the most valiant of the Scots. In an engagement near Queensberry, where Wallace with a few followers was hardly pressed by several hundred English soldiers, Graham came to the rescue, and, having put the English to flight, pursued and slew their captain, Graystock. He was slain at the battle of Falkirk on 22 July 1298. Graham was one of the few still unbroken, when, as he struck down a knight, he was stabbed by a soldier from behind. His death was grievously lamented by Wallace, who is represented by Blind Harry the Minstrel as weeping over the body when found upon the field of battle. Graham was buried in the churchyard of Falkirk, where a monument was afterwards
