440 
The  late  Lord  Vernon. 
France,  having  been  carried  there  by  the  German  armies.  It 
would  require  many  pages  to  describe  the  efforts  made,  and  the 
precautions  taken,  by  all  parties  concerned  to  liberate  this  hand- 
some gift  from  the  clutches  of  the  Veterinary  Inspector,  whose 
devotion  to  his  duty  was  of  course  commended  by  none  more 
than  by  Lord  Vernon  himself. 
A striking  illustration  of  how  much  his  own  individual  work 
was  recognised  and  appreciated  by  those  for  whom  it  was  under- 
taken, is  given  in  the  following  extract  from  a letter: — “When 
we  were  at  Tours,  an  old  French  peasant  and  his  wife  drove  in 
from  the  country  to  thank  him  in  person.  Their  story  was  a 
touching  one.  They  had  been  very  well  off  till  the  time  of  the 
war,  when  they  paid  a heavy  sum  to  buy  their  only  child  off  from 
serving  in  the  army.  A second  conscription  obliged  him  to  go, 
and  he  was  killed.  They  meantime  had  had  their  crops  ruined, 
and  but  for  the  help  of  the  seed-fund  would  have  failed  alto- 
gether.” The  same  letter  mentions  there  having  been  much 
disappointment  at  Tours  because  Lord  Vernon  was  too  unwell  at 
the  time  to  accept  an  invitation  to  a public  dinner  which  they 
were  very  anxious  to  give  in  his  honour. 
When  in  1875  a fund  was  raised  by  the  Lord  Mayor  for  the. 
relief  of  the  sufferers  by  the  disastrous  inundations  in  the  valley 
of  the  Garonne,  Lord  Vernon  joined  the  committee,  and  gave 
much  valuable  assistance  and  advice,  especially  insisting  that 
all  English  subscriptions  should  be  distributed  by  English 
agents. 
As  a fitting  sequel  to  the  thought  and  labour  he  had  bestowed 
for  so  many  years  on  agricultural  and  other  cognate  subjects, 
he  was  appointed  a member  of  the  Royal  Commission  on 
Agriculture  in  August  1879.  To  accept  any  appointment 
meant  with  Lord  Vernon  that  he  would  give  his  whole  care  and 
attention  to  it ; and  it  may  be  well  imagined  how  soon  he 
became  absorbed  in  the  work  of  the  Commission. 
Lasting,  as  it  did,  for  nearly  three  years,  it  is  not  too  much  to 
say  that  it  seemed  hardly  ever  out  of  his  thoughts.  Besides  the 
scrupulous  pains  which,  as  mentioned  by  the  Duke  of  Richmond 
(p.442),  he  took  at  the  sittings  of  the  Commission  in  framing  his 
questions — frequently  written  out  beforehand — so  as  to  extract 
the  truth  from  whatever  source  it  could  be  arrived  at,  his  corre- 
spondence and  interviews  with  tenant-farmers,  land-agents,  and 
others,  were  incessant ; and  that  his  views  were  well  thought 
out  and  independent  is  best  shown  by  his  having,  while  agree- 
ing with  the  rest  of  the  Report  of  the  Commission,  produced 
a Supplementary  Memorandum  on  the  vexed  question  of  unex- 
hausted improvements.  It  was  on  the  basis  of  this  memo- 
randum that  he  framed  his  Bill  for  the  Amendment  of  the 
