e Scottish bar showed that, although
rejected by the country, he was not despised by his professional
brethren.

It is, however, for his political rather than for his legal abilities
that Mr. Gordon is known, although, of course, he could not have earned
such a reputation in St. Stephen's but for his knowledge of Scotch law.
Although short, his Parliamentary career has neither been uneventful nor
inglorious. Simultaneously with his return for Thetford, he was
appointed Lord Advocate for Scotland; and although some of his
detractors have argued that he was only selected to fill that post
because the Conservatives could not find another man, it is hardly
credible that the Court of Session is so barren of Tory talent and
leanings. Besides, the malicious insinuation has been completely
disproved by Mr. Gordon's zealous and efficient discharge of the duties
of his office, in which his conduct completely vindicated the choice of
his party. Unfortunately for his own peace of mind, Mr. Gordon
identified himself with a rotten borough. Thetford is a constituency on
the East Coast Railway, near to Norwich, which had in 1861 a population
of 4208, and returned two members to Parliament. At present the
constituency only numbers about 200. Although the ancient borough of
Thetford, which was in the seventh century the see of the bishopric of
Norfolk and Suffolk, had many claims to the veneration of Parliament,
and the affection of the Conservative party, to which it had been
faithful for generations, it was doomed by the inevitable decree of
destiny, of which--sad to tell! its best and most devoted friends were
the ministers, to political dismemberment; and Mr. Gordon, having been
dispossessed, at one blow, of his seat in the House of Commons and his
place in the Cabinet, was compelled to seek for

"Fresh fields and pastures new."

He had not long to wait. At the general election of 1868 he contested
the Glasgow and Aberdeen Universities with the Right Hon. James
Moncrieff. A very severe struggle took place; indeed, the contest may
justly be described as one of the most bitter and hotly contested that
ever took place in Scotland; and both in Glasgow and in Aberdeen it gave
rise to a great deal of animosity and personal feeling, which will be
long remembered, and the effects of which, we believe, have not yet
completely died out. In the end, however, Mr. Moncrieff beat his
opponent by sixty-seven votes, a majority so small in pro