1836 Sir W. Molesivortb; Marquess of Ereadalbane 321 



sensational event in his life was when, in command of the 

 San Jacinto, on 8th November 1861, he intercepted the 

 British mail-steamer Trent on the high seas and forcibly 

 removed from it the Confederate Commissioners Mason and 

 Slidell on their way to Europe. For this act he received 

 the thanks of Congress, but its illegality was admitted by 

 the Federal Government, and the Commissioners were 

 released. 



Among the home- visitors to the Club this year few call for 

 special notice. Captain Back, introduced by Colonel Leake, 

 was one of the early navigators of the Arctic seas (p. 277) . 

 He became a member of the Club in 1850. Davies Gilbert 

 invited his parliamentary friend, Sir William Molesworth, 

 the well-known politician in the time of Lord Aberdeen 

 and Lord Palmerston, whose services to the Colonies, when 

 he was Colonial Secretary, entitled him to a place in the 

 history of this country, and who yet found time and money 

 to edit and publish in sixteen volumes an edition of the com- 

 plete works of Hobbes. The second Marquess of Breadal- 

 bane, who dined on March J-7th, was elected into the Royal 

 Society in 1834. A great Highland chieftain, handsome in 

 body and cultivated in mind, he resided on and improved 

 his vast estates and was beloved by his tenantry. He 

 interested himself in mineralogy in order that he might 

 develop any indications of workable minerals in his moun- 

 tainous domain, and for many years he continued to work 

 the mines at Tyndrum with little or no profit, but as a 

 patriotic enterprise. He left no children, and the English 

 titles of his family became extinct with his death in 1862. 

 John Murray, junior, son of Byron's publisher, dined for the 

 first time on April I4th. Lord Sandon and Lord Burlington 

 were also guests. 



The visitors of former years who reappeared in 1836 

 included Buckland, Conybeare, Whewell, Brisbane, Wheat- 

 stone, Sir John Franklin, and Baron Dupin. 



1837. At the Anniversary meeting on June 22nd 1837 

 twenty-five members were present, and Charles Hatchett 

 presided. The tavern bills for the year since the last 



