Page:Men of the Time, eleventh edition.djvu/58

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
ARGYLL.
41

be mentioned the opera "La Spia," written in New York in 1856; "Il Bacio," written in London; and various pieces for the violin.


ARGYLL (Duke of), His Grace George Douglas Campbell, K.T., only surviving son of the seventh duke, was born at Ardencaple Castle, Dumbartonshire, in 1823, and, before he had succeeded his father, in April, 1847, had become known as an author, politician, and public speaker. As Marquis of Lorne he took an active part in the controversy in the Presbyterian Church of Scotland relating to patronage, and was looked upon by Dr. Chalmers as an important and valuable adherent. As early as 1842 he published a pamphlet which exhibited considerable literary ability, under the title of "A Letter to the Peers from a Peer's Son." His brochure, "On the Duty and Necessity of Immediate Legislative Interposition in behalf of the Church of Scotland, as determined by Considerations of Constitutional Law," was an historical view of that Church, particularly in reference to its constitutional power in ecclesiastical matters. In the course of the same year be published "A Letter to the Rev. Thomas Chalmers, D.D., on the Present Position of Church Affairs in Scotland, and the Causes which have led to it." In this pamphlet he vindicated the right of the Church to legislate for itself; but condemned the Free Church movement then in agitation among certain members of the General Assembly; maintaining the position taken up in his "Letter to the Peers," and expressing his dissent from the extreme view embodied in the statement of Dr. Chalmers, that "lay patronage and the integrity of the spiritual independence of the Church has been proved to be, like oil and water, immiscible." In 1848 the Duke published an essay, critical and historical, on the ecclesiastical history of Scotland since the Reformation, entitled "Presbytery Examined." It was a careful expansion of his earlier writings, and was favourably received. His Grace was a frequent speaker in the House of Peers on such subjects as Jewish Emancipation, the Scottish Marriage Bill, the Corrupt Practices at Elections Bill, the Sugar Duties, Foreign Affairs, the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill, the Scottish Law of Entail, and the Repeal of the Paper Duties. During the administration of Lord John Russell he gave the government a general support, at the same time identifying his political views with those of the Liberal Conservatives. His Grace actively interested himself in all questions affecting Scottish interests brought before the Legislature, especially in the affairs of the Church of Scotland. In 1851 he was elected Chancellor of the University of St. Andrews. In 1852 he accepted office in the Cabinet of the Earl of Aberdeen, as Lord Privy Seal. On the breakingup of that ministry, in February, 1855, in consequence of the secession of Lord John Russell, and the appointment of Mr. Roebuck's Committee of Inquiry into the state of the British army before Sebastopol, his Grace retained the same office under the Premiership of Lord Palmerston. In the latter part of 1855 he resigned the Privy Seal, and became Postmaster-General. In Lord Palmerston's Cabinet of 1859 the Duke resumed the office of Lord Privy Seal, which he exchanged for that of Postmaster-General on Lord Elgin being sent, in 1860, on his second special mission to China. He was re-appointed Lord Privy Seal in 1860, was elected Rector of the University of Glasgow in Nov. 1854; presided over the twenty-fifth annual meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, held at Glasgow, in Sept. 1855; and was elected Presi-