newly-created office of deputy-speaker of the house of lords. opinions existed about the necessity of the office, but there was no diversity of opinion about the fitness of the man, and it was universally owned that he was selected for his fitness. The journals of parliament will attest the speed with which he removed the mass of undecided appeals, and the unanimous applause of Scotch lawyers is the best evidence of the wisdom, learning, and justice with which he accomplished that arduous task. Among the numerous body who have risen from the middle classes to the highest stations of the law, it will be hard to name any individual who owed his preferment more certainly to a belief of his merit than Lord Gifford, or who possessed more of those virtues which are most fitted to disarm the jealousy naturally attendant on great and sudden advancement." Sir Stamford Rames. BORN A. D. 1781.-DIED A. D. 1826. SIR STAMFORD RAFFLES was born at sea, in the West Indies, in 1781. Having obtained a situation in early life in the India House, his good conduct recommended him to the notice of his superiors, and in 1805 he was sent out as assistant-secretary in the Pulo-Penang establishment. Ardent, laborious, and inquisitive, young Raffles soon acquired a more complete knowledge of the languages, customs, and feelings, of the Malay tribes than any other European possessed, and rendered invaluable service to Lord Minto in the reduction of Java in 1810. So great was the confidence which his lordship placed in Mr Raffles, that he appointed him lieutenant-governor of this immense island and its dependencies. "In order," says his amiable biographer, "to appreciate the difficulties of the situation in which Mr Raffles was placed, the extent of the changes which it was requisite to introduce, and the views which he formed of the principles of government, it will be necessary to advert very briefly to one or two leading principles of the Dutch rule. One of the chief sources of the Dutch revenue was the monopoly by government of the grain and other produce of the land, which the cultivators were required to deliver at an inadequate and arbitrary rate, which articles were afterwards dealt out to the consumer at a far higher price, so that, in fact, the whole body of the people depended on the government for their very subsistence. The principle of encouraging industry in the cultivation and improvement of the country, by creating an interest in the effort and fruits of that industry, was wholly unknown. The mode of collecting this revenue in kind remained with the regent of the district, leaving the cultivators no security beyond the claims of usage and custom; and although custom prescribed a certain portion only of the crop to be delivered, there were no positive means of preventing a greater levy. Thus, while the power and influence of authority could be successfully exerted to stifle complaints, the peasant, though suffering the greatest injustice, despairing of relief, would endure almost any privation and suffering, rather than quit the land of his forefathers, to which he felt himself attached by the strongest ties of religion, of habit, and of affection. Feudal service was another of the grievances and oppressions under which the natives groaned. No means existed of affording a direct control on the demands for labour. The public officers of the Dutch government universally employed the services of the people without regular hire. Their demands were unlimited. The native chiefs followed the same system. No check existed; and thus the energies of the people were crushed, and their labour frittered away, becoming productive neither to themselves nor to the state. In short, they were reduced to the lowest state of vassalage and subjection. To this ruinous system was to be added the pressure arising from the failure of external commerce. The Dutch government, forced to look within itself for relief, discovered the embarrassments to be daily increasing. Under this exigency, the funds of public societies were appropriated to the government treasury; and the private property of individuals was forcibly borrowed in the same manner. An arbitrary increase of paper-currency was issued, to provide for the daily expenses of the state; and this being found inadequate, the government were compelled to deliver a proportion of colonial produce in payment of these establishments, or, in other words, to pawn the produce in store, to satisfy the current demands upon the public treasury. Such was the financial state of the country at the period when the English assumed the administration of Java. It would be endless to notice the difficulties and obstacles which occurred in the establishment of a pure and upright administration. Not only was the whole system, previously pursued by the Dutch, to be subverted, but an entire new one substituted, as pure and liberal as the old one was vicious and contracted; and this was to be accomplished and carried into effect by the very persons who had so long fattened on the vices of the former policy. Some few were sufficiently enlightened to perceive the advantages of the new system: two of these, Mr Cransen and Mr Muntinghe, on this account, were regarded by Mr Raffles with the highest esteem. Those who know how difficult it is to carry on a government, even where the choice of agents is great, where each well knows the duty which he has to perform, and where the state of society is such, that every man acts as a check upon his neighbour, will be able to appreciate the labour and the anxiety which devolved on Mr Raffles, when Lord Minto left him to arrange the details of that system of which they had together formed the outline. Buoyant in spirit and firm in courage, when once he had adopted a right principle of action, Mr Raffles was keenly alive to the difficult and arduous task which he had to perform; responsible for all, at a distance from any superior authority, without one individual with whose principles he was acquainted, and of whose abilities he had any experience; yet forced to set the wheel of government in motion, and to watch its progress with unceasing attention, whilst all the details of every department were to be formed by himself; nothing but the facility of arrangement which he possessed could have accomplished so much with so little assistance, and in so short a time. The manner and time of bringing about this change, however, required the most serious consideration; and before he took any decided step in the new organization, he instituted statistical inquiries in every district, and collected the most detailed information in every department; the result of which convinced him that a thorough change in system was not only advisable and practicable, but indispensable, no less for the interests and honour of the British government, than for the happiness and prosperity of the country at large. He examined minutely every department; drew up himself every detail and instruction for the agents which he employed, and with all the courage of a pure and ardent mind, commenced that thorough reform, which with unwearied assiduity he laboured to establish during the whole period of his administration." The success of Mr Raffles's administration could be only feebly judged of from the fact that he raised its revenue from half-a-million to four millions sterling. He effectually gained the good-will and confidence of the natives; he established a vigilant and effective magistracy; he disseminated the blessings of education throughout the island; he explored its natural history and resources; and he gave to the world an admirable natural and political history of this most important and interesting island. Our miserable negotiations at the close of the war deprived us of this most valuable acquisition, and replaced the Javanese under their brutal masters the Dutch. Sir Stamford-who had been knighted while on a visit to England in 1817now addressed himself to the organization of a central station within the Archipelago, such as might secure a free passage to China through the straits of Malacca. With this view he fixed upon the island of Singapore, which soon became a valuable and flourishing settlement under his governorship. Sir Stamford returned to England in bad health in 1824, and died in 1826. Francis Rawdon-Hastings, Earl of Moira. BORN A. d. 1754.-died a. d. 1826. THE house of Rawdon is of very great antiquity. It is not certain whether it was settled in England before the Conquest, but the family possesses the title-deed of their estate, granted by William the Conqueror; a part of which estate the present earl still enjoys. The fol lowing lines, taken from the original deed, have been preserved by John Weever, in his Funeral Monuments :' 1 Wyllyam, king, the thurd yere of my reigne, Give to thee Paulyn Roydon, Hope and Hopetowne, Wyth al the landes up and downe, From heven to yerth, from yerth to hel, For thee and thyne ther to dwel, As truly as thys kyng ryght is myne, For a crosse-bow and an arrow The family appears to have given name to a town in Yorkshire, about three miles from Leeds. Sir Marmaduke Rawdon, Knt., was a staunch royalist, and a most active and intrepid commander in the unfortunate reign of Charles I. Sir George Rawdon also, the first baronet, went to Ireland with Strafford, and was famous for his loyalty and eminent services in Ireland during the great rebellion. As a mark of the royal favour, he was, in May, 1665, created baronet of Moira, in the county of Down. Sir John Rawdon, in March, 1717, married Dorothy, daughter of Sir Richard Levinge, speaker of the Irish house of commons, and afterwards chief-justice of Common pleas in that kingdom. By this marriage he had four sons and a daughter; and, dying February 2d, 1724, in the 34th year of his age, he was succeeded by his son John, who was created Lord Rawdon in 1750, and earl of Moira in 1761. He married in 1741, Helena Percival, youngest sister of the earl of Egmont, by whom he had two daughters. On her death, in 1746, he married Anne, daughter of Trevor, Viscount Hillsborough, who, dying without issue in 1751, he married the following year Elizabeth Hastings, eldest daughter of Theophilus, earl of Huntingdon, by whom he had seven sons and four daughters. The present earl was born December 9th, 1754, at his family-seat in Down. His education was liberal, and on quitting school he made a short tour on the continent; but the war with America breaking out, his lordship immediately embraced the opportunity of indulging his passion for a military life, and embarked for that country. He was lieutenant in the fifth regiment of grenadiers, at the memorable battle of Bunker'shill, where he received two shots in his cap, and was one out of seven, only, of his company who escaped unhurt. The conduct of our young soldier on this occasion was so conspicuous as to make a strong impression upon the mind of General Burgoyne, who, in his despatches to the British government, observed, "Lord Rawdon has this day stamped his fame for life." He was, afterwards, present at the storming of Fort Clinton. In 1778, before he was four-and-twenty, he was advanced to the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the army, and General Howe having resigned, he was appointed adjutant-general to the British forces commanded by Sir Henry Clinton. In this capacity he proved himself not only brave, but active and judicious; and rendered most essential service in the hazardous retreat of the British army through the Jerseys, from Philadelphia to New York, and also in the action of Monmouth. He afterwards embarked with his troops for Charlestown, and served during the siege of that place. On this occasion he conducted himself with so much judgment, and exhibited so many proofs of distinguished valour, that he was appointed to the command of a separate corps in the province of South Carolina. The American general, Gates, had invaded this province, and Lord Rawdon's object was to maintain his position there till the arrival of Lord Cornwallis, in which he completely succeeded. Soon after, the battle of Camden was fought, in which Lord Rawdon by his intrepidity and promptitude of resolution acquired new laurels. Lord Cornwallis marching northward with a considerable force, Lord Rawdon was left with a very small division in South Carolina, where he had occasion, in February, 1781, to oppose two American generals who possessed independent commands. By the activity and skill of his manœuvres, however, the efforts of the enemy were baffled, and in a few days they were obliged to retreat. In April following, another American army, under General Greene, advanced against the British troops. While Greene kept his army encamped on Hobkirk-hill, waiting for reinforcements, his lordship determined upon attacking the hostile camp, though with an inferior force. The superiority of regular discipline and military skill was never more conspicuous than upon this occasion. The choice of a circuitous line of march concealed the approach of the British from the enemy. His lordship reached the most accessible side of the hill on which they lay before they were aware of an assault; Greene, however, with great alertness, drew out his forces; and when he perceived with what narrowness of front the British advanced to the attack, he confidently expected a decisive victory. Lord Rawdon instantly discerned the intentions of the American general, and at once formed such a plan of arrangement as was fitted to defeat them. The Americans came down the hill under the protection of a very heavy fire of grape-shot from their artillery; but the sudden extension of the British front line utterly disconcerted them, and, after a sharp action, they were totally routed. The affairs of the English in America now began to decline, and it was deemed necessary to retreat from Carolina. The conduct of this business devolved upon Lord Rawdon, on account of the severe illness of Lord Cornwallis. He retired first to Camden, which he was soon obliged to evacuate. He next pursued the route to Charlestown. During his command at this place, an unpleasing act of public justice was executed, which made a considerable noise. Isaac Haynes, an American, had been taken prisoner when Charlestown fell into the hands of the British troops. This man voluntarily took the oath of allegiance to the British government, and was set at liberty; but, in violation of his oaths, he soon after began to intrigue, and obtained the rank of a colonel of militia in the enemy's army. He corrupted a battalion of our militia which had been enrolled and attested, and was detected carrying them off at the very moment when the enemy were coming down upon us. He was tried by a court of inquiry, and executed. Lord Rawdon endeavoured privately to procure the pardon of Haynes, and encouraged Mr Alexander Wright and Mr Powell, two eminent loyalists, to get a petition from their body in his favour; but his humane efforts were over-ruled. Yet, with singular injustice, the execution of this man was not only represented at home as a wanton act of military despotism, but the whole of it was ascribed to his lordship. A methodist preacher at Plymouth, who carried on a secret correspondence with the Americans, wrote an exaggerated account of this affair to the duke of Richmond; and his grace, believing the narrative, was so imprudent as to animadvert upon the transaction in the house of lords. For this he was called to accounts in a spirited manner by Lord Rawdon, after his lordship's return, and at length his grace made an apology for what he had thus rashly advanced. When it had become necessary to remove the troops, his lordship was severely affected through the excessive heat of the climate; but, sacrificing all personal convenience, he gave orders to march. His weakness, however, was so great, that he was under the necessity of being conveyed in a cart, and from thence issued his orders to the troops. Finding that the disorder increased upon him, he embarked for England; but, on his passage, the vessel was captured by the Glorieuse, and carried into Brest. Shortly after he recovered his liberty, and landed in England, where, in acknowledg |