STANLEY, The Right Hon. EDWARD HENRY SMITH, now Earl of Derby, an eminent English statesman, eldest son of the fourteenth earl of Derby (q.v.), was born at the family-seat, Knowsley park, Lancashire, July 21, 1826; was educated at Rugby, and at Trinity college, Cambridge, where he concluded a distinguished university career by taking a first class in classics in 1848, together with a declamation prize and mathemati cal honors. He early adopted the profession of statesmanship, and especially applied himself to the study of social and economical questions. During his absence on a tour in Canada, the United States, and the West Indies. he was elected (Dec., 1848) for King's Lynn on the death of lord G. Bentinck. He afterward visited the east,"and was still in India when his father received the queen's commands to form an administration in which Stanley was appointed under-secretary for foreign affairs. In 1855, on the death of sir W. Molesworth, lord Palmerston paid him the compliment of offering him the seals of the colonial office. The offer was declined; but in 1858 he was appointed to the secretaryship of the colonies in lord Derby's administration, and was soon called upon to succeed the earl of Ellenborough (q.v.) as president of the board of control for the affairs of India. The great Indian mutiny had not yet been quelled, and it devolved upon Stanley to frame resolutions and bring in a bill abolishing the East India company (q and transferring their Indian possessions to the direct government of the crown. This duty he performed with consummate ability. The great mutiny was put down
during his secretaryship, and in Feb. 1859 he had to meet the legacy of financial dis organization which it bequeathed. The Derby government resigned before Stanley could carry out his plans for establishing the finances of India on a sounder basis; but he gave effective support to his successor in office, in reducing the military expenditure, and other measures of administrative improvement. In his father's third administration, formed in July, 1866, lie was invested with the office of secretary of state for foreign affairs, and the ability and tact he displayed in conducting the negotiations for the set tlement of the Luxemburg difficulty obtained for him a considerable amount of popu• larity. He continued in this office till the accession of the Gladstone ministry to power in 1868. In April, 1869, he was installed lord-rector of the university of Glasgow, and in October of the same year, on the death of his father, he took his seat in the house of lords. He was again made foreign secretary by Mr. Disraeli in 1874; but on account of divergence from the views of the premier on the eastern question, he, like his colleague, the earl of Carnarvon, retired from the ministry early in 1878. In 1874 he was elected lord-rector of Edinburgh university. His speeches are remarkable for admirable good sense and perfect clearness. He is distinguished by his support of working-men's insti tutes, and of the cause of popular education.