Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 2.djvu/150

 conciliatory speech the Scotch church patronage bill, substituting appointment by election for lay patronage in the Church of Scotland, and the measure became law. He also carried the Endowed Schools Act amendment bill, which had been hotly debated in the commons. Richmond's agricultural holdings bill of the following session, introduced on 12 March 1875, established presumption in favour of the tenant with compensation for various classes of improvements; it passed the lords without a division. During the debates he expressed himself strongly against any interference with liberty of contract between landlord and tenant (Hansard, ccxxii. col. 963). In 1876 he took charge of the elementary schools bill, a measure supplementary to the Act of 1870, and designed to enforce attendance; but his burials bill of 1877 was withdrawn after an amendment allowing nonconformist services in churchyards had been carried against him in the lords by 127 votes to 111. On 13 Jan. 1876 Richmond had been created Duke of Gordon and Earl of Kinrara in the peerage of the United Kingdom; the title of Duke of Gordon in the peerage of Scotland had expired in 1836 with his great-uncle, George, fifth Duke of Gordon [q. v.]. In August 1876, on Disraeli's promotion to the peerage, Richmond ceased to be leader in the lords. His efforts for the agricultural interest continued; in 1878, on the outbreak of cattle disease, he carried the contagious diseases (animals) bill, which dealt stringently with infection in the homesteads and made slaughter of imported beasts compulsory, except when the privy council was satisfied that the laws of the exporting country afforded reasonable security against disease. The measure did not go as far as Richmond wished, but he administered it drastically, reorganising the veterinary department of the privy council, which was afterwards replaced by the board of agriculture. The farming industry being grievously depressed, a royal commission on agriculture was appointed (4 Aug. 1879), and Richmond accepted the chairmanship. Admirably suited for the position, he conducted a wide inquiry lasting until July 1882, when his colleagues presented him with a token of esteem in silver. A preliminary report, dated 14 July 1881, dealt with Irish land tenure and cautiously admitted defects in the Ulster custom and 'Griffith's valuation.' The final report, signed unanimously, though with supplementary memoranda expressing dissidence on various points, recommended reforms connected with local administration, tithe rent-charge, the law of distress, and compulsory compensation for unexhausted improvements (Preliminary Report, Parl. Papers, 1881 [c. 2778], XV. 1; Final Report, Parl. Papers, 1882 [c. 3309], xiv. 1). Its chief outcomes were the Agricultural Holdings Act, passed by the liberal government in 1883, and the creation of the board of agriculture.

After the death of Lord Beaconsfield (19 April 1881), Richmond in a speech of 'excellent taste and judgment' proposed Salisbury for the leadership of the opposition in the lords, though privately 'giving indications that he would fain have kept it' (Gathorne-Hardy, ii. 163). The health of the duchess decided him not to advance his claims. He continued to take an active part in debate, while acting occasionally as a drag on the impetuosity of his new leader. He spoke incisively on the agricultural holdings bill of 1883, which went too far for his taste, and on the fall of Khartoum. Of his amendments, one making general the condition that in estimating compensation no account should be taken of the improved value which was due to the inherent qualities in the soil was accepted, after some demur, by the government. He declined, however, to do anything which, by risking the success of the bill, would be 'repugnant to the feelings of the whole of the tenant farmers of the country' (Hansard, cclxxxiii. col. 1828). During the crisis of 1884, produced by the refusal of the peers to pass a franchise bill unaccompanied by a redistribution of seats, Richmond's influence was on the side of peace. Summoned by Queen Victoria, who held him in high regard, he visited Balmoral on 13 Sept., and though Gladstone characterised what passed in the direction of compromise as 'waste of breath,' the ensuing correspondence with Sir Henry Ponsonby [q. v.] 'set up a salutary ferment' ( Gladstone, iii. 130, 131). The duke opened communications with Lord Granville, making clear that the opposition was acting in good faith (Gathorne-Hardy, ii. 203). Northcote declared that the duke's action led 'to little more than a conference between the duke. Lord Salisbury, and Lord Cairns, and to a substantial agreement as to the course to be taken over the House of Lords' ( Stafford Northcote, First Earl of Iddesleigh, ii. 205); it is clear that his mediation was of value. Richmond's part was nearly played. In the short-lived conservative ministry of 1885-6 he acted as secretary for Scotland,