SIR ANDREW CLARKE.
Life of Lieutenant-General the Hon. Sir Andrew Clarke. Edited by Colonel R. H. Vetch. (John Murray. 15s.)—This is in every respect an excellent biography of a soldier and Empire-builder of the class of Gordon, Nicholson, and Stamford Raffles, who, indeed, were his heroes. The most important post he held was that of Inspector-General of Fortifications. Sir Andrew Clarke will perhaps be remembered best for his work as Governor of the Straits Settlements between 1873 and 1875, when he was in the prime of life. But he was also closely associated both with politics and with practical work in Australasia, his father having died Governor of Western Australia, and he himself having sought a Colonial position on his father's death. The Gold Coast, India, Egypt—especially the Suez Canal—knew Sir Andrew, or, to put the matter otherwise, Sir Andrew was known through them. Even when he retired from active service, he took a prominent part in the solution of such questions as interested him, and was one of the most useful and vigorous of Agents-General. His last public act of importance was to presi:e at the unveiling of a cast of a replica of the original Gordon Statue at Chatham which was erected at Khartoum in the spring of 1901. When he died the following year, in his seventy- eighth year, his loss was mourned deeply by many who, both in the Colonies and here, had learned to like him for his qualities as well as to respect him for his services to the Empire. His biographer—and a very able and judicious biographer he is— testifies as follows :—" Those who knew the man and differed from him condoned the extreme views he held on some points because they were so eminently characteristic of him; and 'Andy Clarke,' as he was called by his intimates, would not have been 'Andy Clarke' had not the vivacious spirit that displayed itself in a stimulating treatment of even ordinary subjects sometimes rushed into excess." Sir G. S. Clarke, who met Sir Andrew first in 1882, and who contributes a preface to this volume, also thus explains what may be considered Sir Andrew's most serious political "aberrations " :—" It was as an Im- perialist that he became a Home-ruler. Early recollections of famine and eviction in Ireland in 1845 had deeply impressed kiln, and later he had seen discontent and disturbance in Victoria allayed by the free gift of self-government. The mental process was a natural one, but it was not understood by
some of his friends, who viewed the question from a different standpoint, and he strongly resented the imputation of being an advocate of disintegration." Colonel Vetch's lucidly written, informing, and detailed biography deserves to be, and doubtless will be, considered an authority on the manner in, and the system by, which the British Empire was extended and consoli- dated in the nineteenth century.
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