his health. He visited Aix-les-Bains the same year, and was apparently cured, but the mischief reappeared and gradually became worse. In 1860 he married Eliza Charlotte, daughter of George Henry Minto Alexander, officiating judge at Banda, India. Her sister was the wife of his great friend, Professor Nesbitt. In 1862 he established his reputation by his work on ‘The Slave Power,’ the most powerful defence of the cause of the Northern states ever written. It made a great impression both in England and America (a second edition, ‘greatly enlarged, with a new preface,’ appeared in 1863). In 1865 he settled at Mill Hill, near London, where the dampness of the situation was very prejudicial to his health. In 1866 he was appointed professor of political economy in University College, London. Renewed attacks of ill health in the shape of rheumatic gout forced him to pay several visits to foreign baths. A severe operation in 1868 gave him some relief, but he was in time completely crippled. In the spring of 1870 he settled at Lee, near Blackheath, and two years later at Kidbrooke Road, Blackheath. Here he remained for the rest of his life, becoming by degrees a more hopeless invalid, but never losing his cheerfulness or his intellectual vigour. He was a near neighbour and a warm friend of J. S. Mill, and was especially intimate with the late Henry Fawcett and Mr. L. H. Courtney, both of whom constantly visited him. Through them and other friends, as well as by his occasional writings, he exercised considerable political influence. He was deeply interested in questions of national education in Ireland, being always a strong advocate of united education. He took an energetic part in the opposition to the supplementary charter of the Queen's Colleges in 1865–6, which was ultimately pronounced invalid by the master of the rolls. He also did much to inspire the successful opposition to Mr. Gladstone's scheme of an Irish university in 1873. During this time he contemplated a book upon the economical history of Ireland, and upon finding the task too much for his strength worked up the fragments, together with various papers upon the education question, into a volume called ‘Political Essays,’ published in 1873. In that year appeared also a volume of ‘Essays on Political Economy, Theoretical and Applied,’ containing some articles upon the change in the value of gold which had originally been published in ‘Fraser's Magazine.’ The predictions in these articles were remarkably verified by the statistical researches of Professor Stanley Jevons made some years later in ignorance of Cairnes's speculations. A remarkable book, entitled ‘Some Leading Principles of Political Economy newly explained,’ appeared in 1874. In the same year the honorary degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him by the university of Dublin, though he was unable to present himself to receive it. Cairnes at the time of his death was undoubtedly at the head of living economists. Although in the main a follower of J. S. Mill, and therefore of the so-called orthodox school, he was a strikingly original thinker, and did more than any one else to develope the doctrine which he accepted. His statement of the wages fund theory is particularly worth notice. In private life he was a man of singular charm of conversation, even when quite disabled physically. He died, after long suffering, borne with heroic patience, on 8 July 1875, leaving a widow and three children.
Besides the works above mentioned the following have been published separately:
- ‘The Southern Confederacy and the Slave Trade, a correspondence between Professor C. and G. M'Henry (reprinted from the Daily News), with introduction by G. B. Wheeler,’ 1863.
- ‘Who are the Canters?’ (No. 3 of a series of tracts published by the Ladies' Emancipation Society), 1863.
- ‘England's Neutrality in the American Contest,’ reprinted, with additions, from ‘Macmillan's Magazine,’ 1864.
- ‘University Education in Ireland, a letter to J. S. Mill,’ 1866.
- ‘University Education in Ireland,’ reprinted from the ‘Theological Review,’ 1866.
- ‘Woman Suffrage,’ a reply to Goldwin Smith, reprinted from ‘Macmillan's Magazine’ of September 1874.
He published many articles in the ‘Fortnightly Review,’ his last contribution being an interesting criticism of ‘Mr. Herbert Spencer on Social Evolution’ in the numbers for January and February 1875.
[Information from Mrs. Cairnes; Times, 8 July 1875 (article by L. H. Courtney); H. Fawcett in Fortnightly Review for August 1875; personal knowledge.]
CAIRNS, HUGH McCALMONT, first Earl Cairns (1819–1885), belonged to a family of Cairns, of Scotch origin, which migrated from Kirkcudbright to the north of Ireland in the time of James I, and was there of some distinction. A baronetcy, which soon became extinct, was conferred upon an Alexander Cairns for service under Marlborough. Hugh Cairns was the second son of William Cairns of Cultra, county Down, formerly a captain in the 47th regiment of foot, by his wife Rose Anna, daughter of Hugh Johnson. He was born in December 1819, and was educated first at Belfast Academy and afterwards
