taneous reaction of American public opinion against German ‘methods of frightfulness’.
During the whole of the War Spring-Rice only spoke once in public as British ambassador—returning thanks at Harvard in June 1917 in a few stirring words for the honorary degree conferred upon him. His reliance on the goodwill of America found its justification when he attended on 3 April 1917 the memorable session of Congress in which President Wilson declared a state of war to exist between the United States and the German Empire. To borrow the language in which Mr. Balfour afterwards summed up the British government's appreciation of his great services, he steered his course with unfailing judgement and unwearied forbearance, at a time when a single false step might have had the most serious consequences for the cause which he represented, and he might well be proud to remember that at that great moment he was ambassador at Washington, and had done all that lay in his power to prevent any unnecessary friction and avoid any appearance of undue pressure which might have impeded or delayed the President's action. With the entry of America into the War Spring-Rice's task was consummated, and he was the first to recognize that the work of the British embassy in Washington henceforth required a man of trained business capacity rather than a diplomatist, to superintend the huge transactions involved in the effective co-ordination of the financial, industrial, and shipping resources of the two nations for the joint prosecution of the War. At the end of the year the War Cabinet decided that Lord Reading, who had already discharged important missions in that connexion in the United States, should return there as ambassador; and on 13 January 1918 Spring-Rice left Washington for Canada on leave till the appointed time for his retirement.
The strain of the three and a half years' ceaseless work and anxiety had, however, told heavily upon a constitution already undermined by illness, and, whilst waiting at Ottawa for the ship that was to take him home, he died suddenly on 14 February 1918 before the fine tribute from Mr. Balfour, to which reference has been made, had had time to reach him.
[Foreign Office lists; Parliamentary Papers; private letters.]
STALBRIDGE, first Baron (1887—1912), railway administrator and politician. [See Grosvenor, Richard de Aquila.]
STANMORE, first Baron (1829-1912), colonial governor. [See Gordon, Arthur Charles Hamilton-.|
STANTON, ARTHUR HENRY (1839–1913), divine, the third son and youngest of twelve children of Charles Stanton, fine cloth manufacturer, by his wife, Martha Holbrow, was born at ‘Upfield’, Stroud, Gloucestershire, 21 June 1839. He was educated at Rugby and Oxford, entering Trinity College in 1858. Neither at school nor at the university did he win any distinctions. He was not idle, but his ambitions and his gifts pointed another way, and books, throughout his life, were always a quite subordinate interest. Under the influence of Henry Parry Liddon [q.v.], then vice-principal of St. Edmund Hall, he went on to Cuddesdon theological college; and thence to London to take up work as curate in the newly-formed parish of St. Alban, Holborn, under Alexander Heriot Mackonochie [q.v.]. On 21 December 1862 he was ordained deacon at Whitehall by Bishop Tait, and went at once to reside in the clergy house adjoining St. Alban's church, where he lived, without break, for the fifty years of his ministry. The parish was for the most part a difficult one, uncared for, squalid, and lawless. This did not repel him; on the contrary it was the wild element in it which really attracted him, and he gave himself body and soul to work for the good of these neglected men and women. He succeeded in gaining a remarkable hold upon some of the very roughest amongst them, by the natural, unconventional way in which he identified himself with them in their homes and daily life. Before long it became widely known that a preacher of unusual type and eloquence was at work at St. Alban's, and crowds of young men flocked to hear him. He was in these early days and onwards a singularly attractive personality. The fervour of his personal devotion to Christ, his sympathy and humour, aided by a voice of great charm and a manner naturally dramatic, won for him a devoted following. Invitations to preach now came to him from all quarters. It was a time of great and fruitful activity; it was also a very happy time, for he had found himself, and a field ripe for his zeal.
But Stanton's career was abruptly checked by an experience which affected his whole later life. The first signs of
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