on behalf of others, long before any thought of such success as this had entered his mind. The members of the body of which he was Secretary agreed to pay him £500 a-year as salary during the time he remained in Parliament; and accepting this offer in the spirit of noble independence in which it was made, Mr. Burt went into the House of Commons as a paid but not as a fettered member. I have spoken already of the position he has won there, not merely among his political friends, but even among those to whom he is habitually opposed on most public questions. That position has been won by the same qualities as those which gained for him the favour of his fellow-labourers in the pit and the Miners' Union; that is to say, by the simplicity and modesty of his manner, by the consistency and unswerving honesty of his conduct, and by the kindliness and fairness, which are never more precious than when they are found in combination with clear and earnest opinions on all public questions, and an unflinching fidelity to conscience in the discharge of all public duties. Mr. Burt's position in the House of Commons is undoubtedly both anomalous and difficult; but it has been his good fortune to show with what honour to himself and with what usefulness to his fellows it may be filled. An earnest Liberal, a vigorous speaker, and no mean master of the pen, he has undoubtedly added something, not merely to the representative character, but to the political and intellectual strength of Parliament. Dark days have fallen upon his order since the time when they first combined for the purpose of sending him to London, to be their spokesman in the great governing body of the nation; but it is gratifying to know that they have not re pented of their experiment, and that there is every reason to believe that Thomas Burt will continue for many years to come to hold his honourable and remarkable position in the House of Commons. [THE Right Honourable SPENCER COMPTON CAVENDISH, Marquis of Hartington, is the eldest son of the seventh Duke of Devonshire. He was born July 23, 1833, and educated at Trinity College, Cambridge. He was elected for North Lancashire in 1857, and represented that constituency till 1868, when he was an unsuccessful candidate. He was returned for the Radnor District in February 1869. In 1863, he was appointed Under-Secretary of State for War; and in February 1866, Secretary of State for War. From 1868 to 1871 he was Postmaster-General; and from the latter year to February 1874, was Chief Secretary for Ireland. In 1875, he was elected leader of the Liberal party in the House of Commons, in the place of Mr. Gladstone, who had retired from the leadership.] |