Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 22.djvu/686

 658 S U N S U N extraordinary. It was during this period of his life that he acquired that suppleness of feeling and love of finesse which may be traced throughout his subsequent career. From February 1679 to January 1681, a period when the country was rent in twain by real or fancied dangers to the Protestant faith, he held the post of secretary of state for the northern department ; but his conduct in office was not marked by discretion. He voted for the exclusion of the duke of York from the succession to the throne, and the ill-feeling which this action created in the mind of Charles II. was augmented by the overtures which Sunder- land made to the prince of Orange, whilst differences of opinion on the subject of the Exclusion Bill brought about a fierce quarrel between Sunderland and Halifax, the head of the " trimmers." Early in 1683, having been reconciled to the duke of York and having secured a warm friend in the duchess of Portsmouth, Sunderland regained his place as secretary for the northern department. When James II. succeeded to the throne, Sunderland became secretary for the southern department, from March 1685 to 27th October 1688, for most of which period he held the addi- tional post of president of the council, and was a member of the high commission for ecclesiastical causes. He after- wards claimed that he had used his influence to mitigate the proceedings of this obnoxious body, but he went suffi- ciently far with his royal master to sign the warrant for the committal of the bishops and to appear as a witness against them. Though Lord Sunderland was in sympathy, if not in actual communion, with Roman Catholicism, he hesitated to commit himself entirely to the acts of the fierce devotees who surrounded James IT., and through their opposition he was dismissed in disgrace and sought security in Holland. He had been too much engaged in the acts of James II. to find a place among the advisers of William and Mary. The visit which William paid to Althorp in Northampton- shire, the country seat of Sunderland, in 1695 was the prelude of a reconciliation between the king and his ambitious subject and of Sunderland's recall into public affairs. From April to December 1697 he discharged the duties of lord chamberlain of the household and for the greater part of that time he was also lord justice of England ; but he finally retired from active life in the close of 1697 through disgust at the check which William received in the retention of a standing army. The rest of his life was passed in strict seclusion at Althorp, and there he died on 28th September 1702. Lord Sunderland possessed a keen intellect and was consumed by intense restlessness ; but his character was wanting in steadfastness, and he yielded too easily to opposition. His adroitness in intrigue and his fascinating manners were exceptional even in an age when such qualities formed part of every statesman's education ; but the charac- teristics which ensured him success in the House of Lords and in the royal closet led to failure in his attempts to understand the feelings of the mass of his countrymen. Consistency of conduct was not among the objects which he aimed at, nor did he shrink from thwarting in secret a policy which he supported in public. A large share of the discredit attaching to the measures of James II. must be assigned to the earl of Sunderland. SUNDERLAND, CHARLES SPENCER, THIRD EARL OF (1675-1722), was the second son of the second earl, but on the death of his elder brother at Paris, on 5th Septem- ber 1688, he became the heir to the peerage. He was born in 1675, and when twenty years old was sent to the House of Commons by the two constituencies of Hedon in Yorkshire and Tiverton in Devonshire. He chose the latter, and represented it until his succession to the earldom of Sunderland in 1702. Throughout this period of his life his career was undistinguished; his first start in the world of politics occurred in 1705, when he was sent to Vienna as envoy extraordinary, a mission which he discharged with signal ability. Although Sunderland was tinged with republican feeling and had rendered himself personally obnoxious to Anne, he was foisted by the all-powerful influ- ence of his father-in-law, the duke of Marlborough, into the ministry as secretary of state for the southern depart- ment. This office he held from 3d December 1706 to 14th June 1710, when he fell, as he rose, through his connexion with the duke and duchess of Marlborough. The queen offered him a pension of 3000 a year, but he proudly refused the temptation, saying that, if he could not serve, he would not phinder, his country. After the accession of George I. he was lord lieutenant of Ireland (1714-15), lord keeper of the privy seal (1715-17), and secretary of state for the northern department (April 1717 to March 1718). At the latter date he was raised to the post of prime minister, holding with the office of first lord of the treasury the position of lord president of the council. Sir Robert Walpole had been shelved, and he revenged himself on the new administration by resisting and defeat- ing the Bill which was designed to limit the numbers of the House of Lords, a victory over Sunderland which led to a partial reconciliation between him and Townshend and Walpole, his rivals. Lord Sunderland was at the head of affairs during the South Sea mania, and the bursting of the financial bubble led to his political ruin. Through Walpole's influence he was acquitted of personal corrup- tion, but he was forced to resign his place as first lord of the treasury on 1st April 1721. The passion for intrigue which characterized the father had descended to the son : he was ever plotting, and within a few months after Wal- pole had saved him from disgrace, if not from a worse fate, he was engaged in scheming against the friend who had saved him. But his plots were interrupted by his death, which occurred on 19th April 1722. Lord Sunderland's manners were repelling and his disposition was harsh, but he stands high among his compeers for disinterestedness. The love of books ranked among the ruling passions of his life, and he spent his leisure hours and his wealth in form- ing the great collection at Althorp. SUN-FISH. This name is chieflyand properly applied to a marine fish (Orthagoriscvs) which by its large size, grot- esque appearance, and numerous peculiarities of organiza- tion has attracted the attention equally of fishermen as of naturalists. Only two species are known,- the rough or short sun-fish (0. mola), which is found in all seas of the temperate and tropical zones ; and the much smaller and scarcer smooth or oblong sun-fish (0. truncatus), of which only a small number of specimens have been obtained from the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. That this genus belongs to the order Plectognathi and is allied more especi- ally to the globe-fishes (Diodon and Tetrodon) has been indicated in the article ICHTHYOLOGY (vol. ix. pp. 663, 694), where also the principal anatomical peculiarities have been noticed, and where illustrations of the young have been given (see figs. 64, 65). Sun-fishes have the appearance of tailless fish. This is due to the extreme shortening of the tail, which is sup- ported by only a few short vertebrae and reduced to a broad fringe of the trunk. Directly in front of it rise dorsal and anal fins, high and broad, similar to each other in size and triangular in form. The head is completely merged in the trunk, the boundary between them being ndicated only by a very small and narrow gill -opening and a comparatively small pectoral fin. This fin can be of but little use in locomotion, and the horizontal and ver- tical movements of the fish, as well as the maintenance of ts body in a vertical position, are evidently executed by