But honours of this kind did not turn his head, or cause {166} him to forget the commoner duties of life, or lessen his interest in others. He could and did sympathise with distress and trouble, and even the brute creation were not forgotten by him, as the following instance will show. Lord Wolseley arrived in Edinburgh the day preceding the graduation ceremony, and was the guest of General Wauchope at Niddrie. One evening the two officers were taking a walk together round the grounds. As they passed the cottage door of one of his tenants, the man's daughter was noticed to be leading a horse which was labouring under a severe attack of inflammation. Wauchope at once stopped and inquired of the girl what was the matter, and on being informed, the two commanders were soon as much engrossed in the discussion of the poor animal's malady, and the best remedy for it, as if it had been a question of important military strategy. One other event in civil life gave General Wauchope in the summer of this year considerable notoriety. On the sudden death in June of Mr. Robert Cox, the member for South Edinburgh, he was, at the urgent request of the Unionist party, induced once more to enter the lists as a candidate for parliamentary honours against Mr. Arthur Dewar, advocate, who represented the Liberal party. The contest was a short one, but while it lasted it was sharp, for both the candidates and their supporters threw themselves into it with vigour and earnestness. As in his famous campaign against Mr. Gladstone, the chief feature of the General's policy was the integrity of the Empire, as opposed to the cry of Home Rule for Ireland, and although other subjects formed a part of his programme, still that was for him the root question of all others at the time. At a largely attended meeting of his supporters, held {167} on the 9th June, Mr. John Harrison, the chairman, in formally nominating him for the vacancy, spoke of the name of Wauchope 'as one which stirred the blood of every one who had any pride in his country. He was known wherever the English language was spoken. Wherever the British went he was known as a gallant soldier, who had done his duty to his country in many climes and in many circumstances, as a soldier of the Crown. He was known in a narrower sphere all over Scotland as an honourable politician, who fought some years ago a good fight in Midlothian. He fought an uphill fight--what some considered an impossible fight--and in losing it he scored a tremendous success. But he was also known as a good neighbour, whose ancestors had resided at Niddrie for centuries back.'