cabinet. This was followed by the outbreak of the dispute
between France and Turkey over the guardianship of the
holy places at Jerusalem, which, after the original cause
of quarrel had been forgotten, developed into the Crimean
war. The tortuous negotiations which preceded the struggle
need not be discussed here, but in defence of Aberdeen
it may be said that he hoped and strove for peace to the
last. Rightly or wrongly, however, he held that Russell was
indispensable to the cabinet, and that a resignation would
precipitate war. His outlook, usually so clear, was blurred
by these considerations, and he lacked the strength to force
the suggestions which he made in the autumn of 1853 upon his
imperious colleagues. Palmerston, supported by Russell and
well served by Lord Stratford de Redcllffe, British ambassador
at Constantinople, favoured a more aggressive policy, and
Aberdeen, unable to control Palmerston, and unwilling to let
Russell go, cannot be exonerated from blame. When the war
began he wished to prosecute it vigorously; but the stories
of misery and mismanagement from the seat of war deprived
the ministry of public favour. Russell resigned; and on
the 29th of January 1855 a motion by J. A. Roebuck, for the
appointment of a select committee to enquire into the conduct
of the War, was carried in the House of Commons by a large
majority. Treating this as a vote of want of confidence
Aberdeen at once resigned office, and the queen bestowed
upon him the order of the Garter. He smoothed the way for
Palmerston to succeed him, and while the earl of Clarendon
remained at the foreign office he aided him with advice and
was consulted on matters of moment. He died in London on the
14th of December 1860, and was buried in the family vault at
Stanmore. By his first wife he had one son and three
daughters, all of whom predeceased their father. By his second
wife, who died in August 1833, he left four sons and one
daughter. His eldest son, George John James, succeeded as 5th
earl; his second son was General Sir Alexander Hamilton-Gordon,
K.C.B.; his third son was the Reverend Douglas Hamilton-Gordon;
and his youngest son Arthur Hamilton, after holding various
high offices under the crown, was created Baron Stanmore in
1893. Among the public offices held by the earl were those of
lord-lieutenant of Aberdeenshire, president of the society of
Antiquaries from 1812 to 1846 and fellow of the Royal Society.
Aberdeen was a distinguished scholar with a retentive memory
and a wide knowledge of literature and art. His private life
was exemplary, and he impressed his contemporaries with the
loftiness of his character. His manner was reserved, and
as a speaker he was weighty rather than eloquent. In public
life he was remarkable for his generosity to his political
opponents, and for his sense of justice and honesty. He
did not, however, possess the qualities which impress the
populace, and he lacked the strength which is one of the
essential gifts of a statesman. His character is perhaps best
described by a writer who says ``his strength was not equal
to his goodness.'' His foreign policy was essentially one of
peace and non-intervention, and in pursuing it he was accused
of favouring the despotisms of Europe. Aberdeen was a model
landlord. By draining the land, by planting millions of trees
and by erecting numerous buildings, he greatly improved the
condition of his Aberdeenshire estates, and studied continually
the welfare of his dependants. A bust of him by Matthew Noble
is in Westminster Abbey, and his portrait was painted by Sir
Thomas Lawrence. He wrote An Inquiry into the Principles
of Beauty in Grecian Architecture (London, 1822), and the
Correspondence of the Earl of Aberdeen has been printed
privately under the direction of his son, Lord Stanmore.
The 6th earl, George (1841-1870), son of the 5th earl,
was drowned at sea, and was succeeded by his brother
John Campbell Gordon, 7th earl of Aberdeen, (b. 1847), a
prominent Liberal politician, who was lord-lieutenant of
Ireland in 1886, governor-general of Canada 1893--1898,
and again the lord-lieutenant of Ireland when Sir Henry
Campbell-Bannerman formed his ministry at the close of 1905.
See Lord Stanmore, The Earl of Aberdeen (London, 1893); C.
C. F. Greville, Memoirs, edited by H. Reeve (London, 1888);
Spencer Walpole, History of England (London, 1878-1886),
and Life of Lord John Russell (London, 1889); A. W.
Kinglake, Invasion of the Crimea (London, 1877-1888);
Sir T. Martin, Life of the Prince Consort (London,
1875-1880); J. Morley, Life of Gladstone (London, 1903).
(A. W. H. deg. )
ABERDEEN, a royal burgh, city and county of a city,
capital of Aberdeenshire, and chief seaport in the north of
Scotland. It is the fourth Scottish town in population,
industry and wealth, and stands on a bay of the North
Sea, between the mouths of the Don and Dee, 130 1/2 m. N.
E. of Edinburgh by the North British railway. Though Old
Aberdeen, extending from the city suburbs to the southern
banks of the Dob, has a separate charter, privileges and
history, the distinction between it and New Aberdeen can no
longer be said to exist; and for parliamentary, municipal
and other purposes, the two towns now form practically one
community. Aberdeen's popular name of the ``Granite City,'
is justified by the fact that the bulk of the town fs built
of granite, but to appreciate its more poetical designation
of the ``Silver City by the Sea,'' it should be seen after
a heavy rainfall when its stately structures and countless
houses gleam pure and white under the brilliant sunshine.
The area of the city extends to 6602 acres, the burghs of
Old Aberdeen and Woodside, and the district of Torry (for
parliamentary purposes in the constituency of Kincardineshire)
to the south of the Dee, having been incorporated in 1891.
The city comprises eleven wards and eighteen ecclesiastical
parishes, and is under the jurisdiction of a council with
lord provost, bailies, treasurer and dean of guild. The
corporation owns the water (derived from the Dee at a spot 21
m. W.S.W. of the city) and gas supplles, electric lighting and
tramways. Since 1885 the city has returned two members to
Parliament. Aberdeen is served by the Caledonian, Great North
of Scotland and North British railways (occupying a commodious
joint railway station), and there is regular communication by
sea with London and the chief ports on the eastern coast of
Great Britain and the northern shores of the Continent. The mean
temperature of the city for the year is 45.8 deg. F., for summer
56 deg. F., and for winter 37.3 deg. F. The average yearly rainfall
is 30.57 inches. The city is one of the healthiest in Scotland.
Streets and Buildings.--Roughly, the extended city runs
north and south. From the new bridge of Don to the ``auld
brig'' of Dee there is tramway communication via King
Street, Union Street and Holburn Road--a distance of over five
miles. Union Street is one of the most imposing thoroughfares
in the British Isles. From Castle Street it runs W. S. W.
for nearly a mile, is 70 ft. wide, and contains the principal
shops and most of the modern public buildings, all of granite.
Part of the street crosses the Denburn ravine (utilized for
the line of the Great North of Scotland railway) by a fine
granite arch of 132 ft. span, portions of the older town
still fringing the gorge, fifty feet below the level of Union
Street. Amongst the more conspicuous secular buildings in the
street may be mentioned the Town and County Bank, the Music
Hall, with sitting accommodation for 2000 persons, the Trinity
Hall of the incorporated trades (originating in various years
between 1398 and 1527, and having charitable funds for poor
members, widows and orphans), containing some portraits
by George Jamesone, a noteworthy set of carved oak chairs,
dating from 1574, and the shields of the crafts with quaint
inscriptions; the office of the Aberdeen Free Press, one of
the most influential papers in the north of Scotland; the Palace
Hotel; the office of the Nnrthern Assurance Company, and the
Nutional Bank of Scotland. In Castle Street, a continuation
eastwards of Union Street, are situated the Municipnl and
County Buildings, one of the most splendid granite edifices
in Scotland, in the Franco-Scottish Gothic style, built in
1867-1878. They are of four stories and contain the great
hall with an open timber ceiling and oak-panelled walls; the
Sheriff Court House; the Town Hall, with excellent portraits
of Prince Albert (Prince Consort), the 4th earl of Aberdeen,
the various lord provosts and other distinguished citizens.
In the vestibule of the entrance corridor stands a suit of
black armour believed to have been worn by Provost Sir Robert
Davidson, who feh in the battle of Harlaw, near Inverurie, in
1411. From the south-western corner a grand tower rises to
a height of 210 ft., commanding a fine view of the city and
surrounding country. Adjoining the municipal buildings is
the North of Scotland Bank, of Greek design, with a portico
of Corinthian columns, the capitals of which are exquisitely
carved. On the opposite side of the street is the fine
building of the Union Bank. At the upper end of Castle Street
stands the Salvation Army Citadel, an effective castellated
mansion, the most imposing ``barracks'' possessed anywhere
by this organization. In front of it is the Market Cross,
a beautiful, open-arched, hexagonal structure, 21 ft. in
diameter and 18 ft. high. The original was designed in 1682
by Jnhn Montgomery, a native architect, but in 1842 it was
removed hither from its old site and rebuilt in a better
style. On the entablature surmounting the Ionic columns are
panels containing medallions of Scots sovereigns from James
I. to James VII. From the centre rises a shaft, 12 1/2 ft.
high, with a Corinthian capital on which is the royal,unicorn
rampant. On an eminence east of Castle Street are the military
barracks. In Market Street are the Mechanics' Institution,
founded in 1824, with a good library; the Post and Telegraph
offices; and the Market, where provisions of all kinds and
general wares are sold. The Fish Market, on the Albert Basin,
is a busy scene in the early morning. The Art Gallery and
Museum at Schoolhill, built in the Italian Renaissance style
of red and brown granite, contains an excellent Collection of
pictures, the Macdonald Hall of portraits of contemporary
artists by themselves being of altogether exceptional
interest and unique of its kind in Great Britain. The public
llbrary, magnificently housed, contains more than 60,000
volumes. The theatre in Guild Street is the chief seat of
dramatic, as the Palace Theatre in Bridge Place is of variety
entertainment. The new buildings of Marischal College fronting
Broad Street, opened by King Edward VII. in 1906, form one
of the most splendid examples of modern architecture in Great
Britain; the architect, Alexander Marshall Mackenzie, a native
of Aberdeen, having adapted his material, white granite, to
the design of a noble building with the originality of genius.
Churches.---Like most Scottish towns, Aberdeen is well
equipped with churches, most of them of good design, but
few of special interest. The East and West churches of St
Nicholas, their kirkyard separated from Union Street by an Ionic
facade, 147 1/2 ft. long, built in 1830, form one continuous
building, 220ft. in length, including the Drum Aisle (the
ancient burial-place of the Irvines of Drum) and the Colllson
