CHAPTER XVIII 



Some Distinctive Personalities Lord Redesdale "Honest Lord 

 Althorp " " The Colonel "Lord Tredegar A Trio of Workers. 



IN view of their agricultural interest, I am 

 tempted to add two other letters from my 

 collection. The first is from John Thomas, 

 second Earl of Redesdale, Chairman of Committees 

 in the House of Lords, and, in the absence of the 

 Chancellor, its Speaker. He was an admirable 

 example of the fearlessly-honest Tory landowner 

 of a past generation, who recognized that property 

 had its duties as well as its rights, and acted 

 accordingly. But he was something more than 

 a country squire with an intimate acquaintance 

 with all pertaining to rating and main roads, 

 and one of the first of sportsmen, for he had a 

 clearness of judgment and a grasp of detail that 

 enabled him to exercise an enormous influence 

 over the Private Bill legislation of the Upper 

 House. He has been described as the Lord 

 Dictator in all matters relating to railway and 

 other schemes, and his shrewd, hard-headedness 

 often frustrated the designs of promoters and 

 directors of companies, for he enjoyed the con- 

 fidence of the Lords to an almost unlimited extent. 

 He had also no small reputation as a contro- 

 versialist, and actively mingled in several ecclesi- 

 astical affrays. I remember him as the wearer 



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