XIX 



HOME RULE BILL 233 



Warrants were always supposed to give a clear 

 title to the goods. Suddenly the mercantile com- 

 munity was startled by a decision in the Courts 

 to the effect that this was not the case. Sir John 

 was applied to to pass a Bill which should bring 

 the legal position into conformity with the view of 

 it which City men had always taken. There were 

 some technical objections raised by eminent 

 lawyers, because in effect it made the Warrants 

 a more complete security than the goods them- 

 selves would have been. The merchants and 

 bankers in the House, however, were so unanimous 

 in favour of the Bill that it became law. 



Towards the end of the year he received an 

 invitation from the Lowell Institute to give a 

 course of lectures in Boston, and it was with very 

 great regret that he felt obliged to decline. The 

 calls on his various activities were more than 

 sufficient at home, and his response to them was 

 extraordinary. He thought nothing, as on 

 October 4, of running down to Glasgow for an 

 Early Closing meeting. Even this year he was 

 again playing fives with his sons, and men young 

 enough to be his sons, when at High Elms. He 

 notes on April 30, his birthday : " Have great 

 reason to be thankful for so many blessings, and 

 hope I am grateful." Nevertheless, he has the 

 rather mournful comment in regard to this year : 

 " The Home Rule split makes a kind of constraint 

 among old friends." It was a sundering of hearts 

 which so extremely friendly a man could not 

 fail to feel acutely. He also suffered a grievous 

 loss this year by the death of his old friend 

 Professor Busk, of whom he writes on August 10 : 



