LORD HOrGHTON. 
375 
support- Well versed in foreign affairs, and personally acquainted 
with many of the leading men on the Continent, it was not unnatural 
that Mr. Milnes should give a great part of his attention to questions 
of foreign policy. For many )''ears there was no man in the House of 
Commons whose criticisms upon foreign questions were marked by 
greater knowledge and intelligence, or were listened to with more 
respect than were his. But whilst this was the direction in which he 
showed most activity as a politician, he exhibited a great interest in 
those social questions affecting the welfare of the gTeat masses of 
the population which are again at the present moment coming to the 
front. He had the honour of bringing in the first bill for the 
establishment of juvenile reformatories so far back as 1846 ; and 
throughout his long life he never failed to give his warmest support 
to all movements directed against the crimes which endanger, and 
the vices which afflict society. In 1863, his long connection with 
Pontefract terminated in a manner gratifying both to his constituents, 
to his ^friends, and to himself. On the recommendation of Lord 
Palmerston, the Queen conferred a peerage upon him, and he took 
his place in the House of Lords as Baron Houghton of Great Houghton. 
His elevation to the Peerage did nothing to diminish the interest 
of Lord Houghton in those social and political questions which had 
engaged his attention in the House of Commons. He was still 
distinguished for the attention which he gave to foreign affairs, whilst 
in the advocacy of all measures of social reform there was no one who 
took a more consistent or useful part. He might fairly have been 
described as one of the most prominent and devoted followers of that 
great philanthropist whom he himself was in the habit of stjding the 
most distinguished of living Englishmen, and who still happily sur- 
vives, the Earl of Shaftesbury. The warm heart, the vivid imagina- 
tion, perhaps in part, the poetic temperament of Lord Houghton, led 
him steadily to espouse and warmly to support nearly all those great 
efforts for the amelioration of the condition of the people of this 
country which are associated with the venerable name of Lord 
Shaftesbury. 
It is not, however, as a politician that Lord Houghton will be 
chiefly remembered. We have incidently made mention of his poetical 
