heard at Singapore of the outbreak of the Indian Mutiny, and realising that a greater danger was at hand, he diverted the troops from China to India, and himself followed them to Calcutta. Seymour was left to blockade the Canton River as best he could. On the 29th of December 1857, since 1500 men, chiefly Royal Marines, had been placed at his disposal, and the French squadron had now come to his aid, Seymour pushed up the river, and, after a clever feint, attacked and captured Canton with a very small loss. The Commissioner, Yeh, hoping that the Tartar troops who were assembling would overpower the allied French and English, remained stubborn to the end. But on the 5th of January 1858 he was taken prisoner and sent to Calcutta. Even so, China remained obdurate. Lord Elgin, who had returned to China after waiting in vain for the plenipotentiaries from Peking, determined to move the scene of action to the north, hoping that by bringing it into the vicinity of the capital he would hasten the course of events. In May 1858 Seymour took the forts of the Pei-ho, and forced the passage up the river as far as Tientsin. Tientsin was garrisoned; China dared to dally no longer, and on the 27th of June peace was signed. Yet China was not subdued; an undercurrent of hatred and rebellion, which could not be stemmed, was running through the empire, even when Peking was negotiating with the allies.

Throughout the rest of the year 1858, Seymour, after accompanying Lord Elgin to Japan, was stationed at Hong Kong. In the spring of 1859 he returned to England, having completed his term of service. On the 20th of May he was rewarded for his work in China with a G.C.B., and was shortly afterwards presented by the China merchants with a handsome service of plate, since the benefits he had rendered to their trade were inestimable. On the 1st of November he was promoted to the rank of vice

admiral, and in March, 1864, to be admiral. From March 1863 to March 1866 he was Commander-in-chief at Portsmouth. In 1870 he was put on the retired list, and in 1875 was nominated to the then honorary office of ViceAdmiral of the United Kingdom. His death occurred on the 23rd of February 1887, at the age of eighty-five. He had married, in 1829, his first cousin, Dorothea, daughter of Sir William Knighton, by whom he had one son and three daughters.1

We must now pass on quickly. Two other distinguished sailors yet remain to be mentioned. One we have spoken of before, Admiral Sir Michael Culme-Seymour, the third and present baronet. The details of his career are too fresh in our minds to need repetition. Suffice it to say that he is a G.C.B., and an admiral in the Navy; was Commander-inchief in the Pacific from 1885 to 1887; commander of the Channel squadron from 1890-2; Commander-in-chief in the Mediterranean from 1893 to 1896; Commander-in-chief at Portsmouth from 1897 to 1900, and first and principal A.D.C. to Queen Victoria. In 1866 he married Mary Georgiana, elder daughter of the Hon. Richard Watson, of Rockingham Castle, and has had issue, three sons and two daughters.

His cousin, Sir Edward Hobart Seymour, is the second son of the Rev. Richard Seymour (1806-1880), Canon of Worcester, and grandson of Sir Michael Seymour, first baronet. The details of his career, like those of Sir Michael Culme-Seymour, are fresh in our memory. He served in the Black Sea, throughout the Russian War (1854-5), and in the China War (1857-60), was wounded in a skirmish, on the coast of Africa, in 1870, served in the Egyptian War of 1882, and again in the war with China in 1900. It was in this latter service in the June of 1900, that by his advice

1 Michael Francis Knighton Seymour, born 1841; Dorothea, died 1901; Georgiana, died 1881; Blanche, died 1875.

and under his leadership, an allied naval expedition was undertaken to Tientsin to defend the foreign settlers from the threatened attacks of the Boxers. The expedition was criticised, since it temporarily crippled four British ships, so great was the number of seamen killed and wounded before the Armoury at Tientsin was destroyed, but the necessity was urgent in the extreme, and it was one of the rare occasions when something very like rashness becomes a duty.' He holds the Grand Cross of the Order of the Red Eagle, and of the Spanish Order of Naval Merit, and first class of the Order of the Rising Sun of Japan, and a Royal Humane Society's medal. In the May of this year (1910) he has hauled down his flag and closed his career in the Navy, for the sole reason that he has reached the age limit of seventy years.

1 Clowes, Royal Navy, vii. 523.

CHAPTER XII

THE LINE OF THE LATER DUKES

WE must return now to the main line of the Dukes of Somerset. Edward, the eldest son of Sir Edward Seymour, fifth baronet of Berry Pomeroy, son of the Speaker, by his first wife, Margaret Wale, took but small part in public affairs, serving only once in Parliament as member for Salisbury in 1741. In the next year his wife, Mary, daughter of Daniel Webb of Monkton Farley, died, and he retired. Some suggestion seems to have been made that he should marry the Duke of Somerset's (Algernon, seventh duke) eldest daughter, since by Lord Beauchamp's death the title must revert to him, but the idea came to nothing.

The death of the seventh duke came sooner than was expected. In February 1749-50, when Sir Edward, who was on his road to London, was playing chess in a country inn, the host brought him news of the duke's death, and congratulated him on his accession to the title. Sir Edward said nothing, but continued his game of chess. Riding to London the next day, he happened to meet Lord Holland, who greeted him through the carriage window, and persuaded him to hasten to town and make his claim at once. This he did, but not without difficulties. In April 1750, Walpole wrote to Sir Horace Mann that the title was disputed, my Lord Chancellor has refused him (Sir Edward) the writ, but referred his case to the Attorney-General (Sir Dudley Ryder), the present great opinion of England, who, they say, is clear for Sir Edward's

succession.' Even by the following August the settlement had not been made, for Walpole wrote that Sir Edward had not yet got his dukedom, as there is started up a Dr. Seymour who claims it, but will be able to make nothing out of it.' This was only one of many intrigues, but, as was inevitable, Sir Edward's title was finally assured. His right to the succession was proved by Sir Dudley Ryder, and on the 25th of November he was summoned to the House of Peers. Of the few public offices he served, one was as chief mourner at the funeral of Frederick, Prince of Wales, in April 1751. In February 1752 he obtained a grant of the offices of Warden, and Chief Justice in Eyre of all His Majesty's forests, parks, chases and warrens beyond Trent, and was constituted Lord-Lieutenant of the county of Wilts. He died at Maiden Bradley on the 12th of December 1757. Of his four sons, Edward, Webb, William, and Francis, the two eldest were both destined to become Dukes of Somerset.

However, before we pass to the somewhat uneventful lives of these two men, we may centre our interest on Francis Seymour of Sherbourne, Dorset, grandson of the Speaker, and younger brother of the eighth duke. He is interesting, not so much for himself as for his only son, Henry, who is best known to history as a lover of Madame du Barry. Francis, like his father and grandfather before him, had married into the Popham family, his wife being Elizabeth, Dowager Lady Hinchinbroke, mother to John, Earl of Sandwich, and daughter of Alexander Popham of Littlecote. They had two sons, Henry (1729-1805) and Francis, but the latter Idied when an infant. In July 1753 Henry Seymour married Lady Caroline Cowper, only daughter of the second Earl Cowper. He had, it seems, been jilted the year before by Lady Diana Egerton. According to Horace Walpole, the only answer that Seymour could get on the subject was, 'that Di has her caprices.' However, the reasons she