THE IRISH HAMILTONS.

Te Aroha News, Volume III, Issue 142, 20 February 1886, Page 5

THE IRISH HAMILTONS.

A London correspondent, writing to the Now York " Times," says : It ia probably unprecedented in tho Parliamentary history of any country that five brothers, all under fifty years of ago, should simultaneously sit among its law-makers. This will be true of the Hamilton-Abercorn family in the next Parliament. The recont death of tho old (and first) Duke of Abercorn has given the present head of the house, the whilom Marquis of Hamilton, a seat in the Lords, where he sits by virtue of ono of his minor English titles, just as the Scotch Duke of Argylesits as Baron Sundridge. Ho is forty-seven years old, a decent fellow as dukes go, and one of the principal chums, as well as official attendants, of tho Prince of Wales. All four of his brothers havo beon elected to the Houeo of Commons — Lord Claud, aged fortytwo, for his old Liverpool seat; Lord George, aged forty, and the present head of the Admiralty, ior his old Ealing seat, and the young Lords Frederick and Ernost, aged respectively twenty-nine and twontyscvon, for Manchostor and Tyrone. Of courso,all are Tories ; oven if tradition and environment did not account for thoir politics, the fact that tho family owes its ducal dignity to Disraeli would be enough. Tho family has had a careor commensurate with its present unique distinction, Although in its various ramifications ib is now considered to bo either Scotch or Irish, tho Hamilton name comes from a manor in Leicestershire, and the original Lord of Hamilton was probably Saxon It was in 1270 that the first Hamilton, presumably a mercenary soldier, blossomed out in Scotland— under King Robert the Bruce — as a placeholder and knight. How he came there or what he did to earn this distinction, nobody knows. But this Gilbert, the founder, had qualities, it seems, which nobly boro transplanting to Caledonian soil. Within two conturios his doscendants had founded two minor strains of dignity, which still exiat-the Hamiltons of Dalzell and tho baronetage of Hamilton —and had obtained a lordship for the head of the house. In the succeeding century the family played a great part. They camo to bo Earls of Arran by arranging tho marriage between the King of Scotland and Margaret Tudor, and ono of these was the famous regent during the childhood of luckless Ma>y Queen of Scot?. In the flush of glory succeeding this fortune a younger brother rose to bo Marquis of Hamilton, whence through the femalo lino comes the present Dukedom of Hamilton. In King James's timo, that halcyon era for canny Scots, tho ancestor of the present Abercorn branch went to Ireland, got huga grants of land, and became an Irish nobleman. Tho hoad of the Scotch branch was silly enough to loso his head in tho Cromwellian troubles, but tho Irish Hamiltons novor lost anything — heads, or property, or offices. By careful courtiership, by shrewd marriages, and by a succession of clever business men and politicians at the helm, they have advanced from baron to viscount, from viscount to earl, from earl to duke. Their Irish possessions alono aro set down at 03,557 acres, with a rental which in IS7-1 was stated at -€45,000, and they have nearly 20,000 acres oleowhere, As everybody knows, the Scotch branch of tho family has not turned out well. But thore are no Irish Hamiltons who got drunk on racecourses or revel in debauchery which scandalises oven continental capitals, or waste their substance. They manage to be as well liked in Ireland as it is possible for any landlords to bo ; they got protty good rents without seeming to oppress their tenants ; they work diligently at their parliamentary duties ; keep out of scandals and maintain a keen gazo on the main chance. Lord George ia not suspected of any design to set the Thames afire, but he has mado a good avorage official, just as Lord Claud has made a good average member, and just as xhe younger brothers are expected to do. And as modern atistocrats go, this is a good deal.