Page:Dictionary of National Biography. Sup. Vol I (1901).djvu/428

 His associate was the late J. C. MacDonald, one of the staff of the paper, who, however, co-operated only during the earlier portion of the work. Caird's letters to the 'Times,' dated throughout 1850, furnish the first general review of English agriculture since those addressed by Arthur Young and others to the board of agriculture at the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century. They were republished in 1852 in a volume entitled 'English Agriculture in 1850-1851.' The work was again published in the United States, and was translated into French, German, and Swedish. At the general election of 1852 Caird contested the Wigtown Burghs, which included Stranraer, as a liberal conservative. He was defeated (16 July) by the sitting liberal member by one vote. He was returned (28 March) for the borough of Dartmouth at the general election of 1857, as a 'general supporter of Lord Palmerston, strongly in favour of the policy of non-intervention in continental wars,' a somewhat incongruous profession of faith. His dislike of intervention in foreign affairs led him to oppose the government conspiracy bill, generally believed to have been introduced at the instigation of the French emperor. To his attitude on this question he frequently referred with satisaction in after life. His first speech (21 July 1857) was upon his motion for leave to bring in a bill to provide for the collection of agricultural statistics in England and Wales. It was not until 1864 (7 June), 'after years of fruitless endeavour,' that he succeeded in carrying this measure, extended to Great Britain, by way of resolution, in spite of the opposition of Lord Palmerston. He also obtained a vote in the session of 1865 of 10,000l. for carrying the resolution into effect. The returns were first published in 1866.

While his opposition to the conspiracy bill estranged his Palmerstonian supporters, he alienated the conservative section of his constituents by moving for leave to bring in a bill to assimilate the county franchise of Scotland to that of England, a measure which, by enlarging the Scottish county constituencies, was intended, as Caird avowed, to diminish the influence of the landowners. The motion was defeated (6 May 1858).

At the close of the session of 1858 (4 Sept.) Caird set sail from Liverpool for America. From New York he proceeded to Montreal. Thence he made a tour through the west of Canada, and, returning to the United States, visited Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia, and Maryland. He returned to England before the end of the year, and in 1859 published the notes of his journey in a volume entitled 'Prairie Farming in America, with Notes by the Way on Canada and the United States.' His observations on Canada provoked some resentment in that colony and gave rise to a pamphlet, published at Toronto, 'Caird's Slanders on Canada answered and refuted' (1859).

On the opening of the parliamentary session of 1859 Caird declared himself in opposition to the conservative government's bill for parliamentary reform. He thereby again offended the conservative section of his constituents, and at the dissolution (23 April) deemed it imprudent to offer himself for re-election at Dartmouth. He accordingly stood for the Stirling Burghs and was returned unopposed (29 April). On this occasion he vindicated his political conduct as that of 'a consistent Liberal.' He claimed support as having endeavoured in parliament to promote measures for reducing the expenses of land transfer (speech of 3 June 1858), and for the more economical administration of the department of woods and forests (speech of 22 June 1857). He continued active in parliament, chiefly on questions connected with agriculture. Having, during the session of 1860, taken a prominent part in parliamentary debates on the national fisheries, he was nominated a member of the fishery board. In the same year he bought the estate of Cassencary in Kirkcudbrightshire, which he afterwards made his home, relinquishing his tenancy of Baldoon. In June 1863 Caird was nominated on a royal commission to inquire into the condition of the sea fisheries of the United Kingdom [see Huxley, Thomas Henry (DNB01), Suppl.], and was made chairman. During 1863, 1864, and 1865 he visited for the purposes of the commission eighty-six of the more important fishing ports of the United Kingdom. The commissioners reported in 1866, and their report has mainly governed subsequent legislation on sea fisheries.

After the outbreak of the civil war in the United States in 1861 the growing scarcity of cotton led Caird to interest himself in the extension of the sources of supply. On 3 July 1863 he moved in the House of Commons for a select committee 'to inquire whether any further measures can be taken, within the legitimate functions of the Indian government, for increasing the supply of cotton from that country.' The motion was supported by John Bright [q. v. Suppl.] and Cobden, and from this time Bright maintained a constant friendship with Caird. The