Mr. Childera's death on Wednesday was hardly a political , event,
for since 1892 he had not taken any part in political life. But his was a figure of some importance during the whole of Mr. Gladstone's career as Prime Minister, with the exception of its last two years. Soon after leaving Cambridge, Mr. Childers migrated to Australia, where he spent about seven years in the Colony of Victoria, being a Member of its Legislative Assembly and its Commis- sioner for Trade and Customs. He returned to England. in 1857 as Agent-General for the Colony, and his ex- perience in the political affairs of Australia had, as in Mr. Lowe's case, an important influence over his career as an English statesman, though by no means one of the same tendency. When Mr. Gladstone first became Prime Minister,, Mr. Childers was made First Lord of the Admiralty, an office which he resigned in 1871 from ill-health. In 1872 he returned, to the Administration as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lan- caster, and in subsequent Administrations he held the offices of Minister of War, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Home- Secretary. He followed Mr. Gladstone in his Home-rule policy, but he followed him in a sober fashion, and apparently without enthusiasm. His was, in the highest sense, a rational and sober mind; rational without pedantry, and sober even in its fixed democratic convictions.
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