In no other country, perhaps, has the private misconduct of a public man such fatal effect on his career as in Great Britain, where flagrant immorality proved against a statesman puts an immediate end to his reputation and influence. Parnell fell; Parnell, who for sixteen years had led the Irish Party with unswerving will and undisputed authority; Parnell, whose sagacious leadership had brought the vision of Home Rule to the very brink of accomplishment. Mr. Gladstone wrote that, in his opinion, Mr. Parnell's "continuance at the present moment in the leadership would be productive of consequences disastrous in the highest degree to the cause of Ireland." The ecclesiastical authorities in Ireland pronounced against him, and the weight of priestly authority in the political affairs of that country can hardly be overestimated. The Irish Party in Parliament was divided. The majority of forty-five, henceforth known as Anti-Parnellites, renounced their old chief at a stormy meeting in Committee Room 15 of the House of Commons; but the minority of twenty-six remained staunch. The crisis saved the Government. [Illustration: _G. F. Watts._} {_Photographed by F. Hollyer._ LORD LEIGHTON, P.R.A., 1830-1896. Frederick Leighton was born at Scarborough. Painter, sculptor, musician, and polished orator, he will long be remembered as the ideal President of the Royal Academy. The portrait represents him in his robes as D. C. L.] [Illustration: _From a Photograph_} {_by Russell & Sons._ SIR JOHN EVERETT MILLAIS, P.R.A., 1829-1896. Born at Southampton; exhibited his first picture in 1846, and in 1848 became a member of the "Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood" with Rossetti, Holman Hunt, F. Madox Brown, and others. Elected President of the Royal Academy on the death of Lord Leighton, he survived him only six months.] [Sidenote: Deaths of Parnell and W. H. Smith.] Parnell died on October 6, 1891. On the same day the Queen lost one of her most devoted servants, and the House of Commons its leader, in the person of William Henry Smith, whose health had broken down under the strain of constant attention to the ever-increasing work of Parliament. Added to this anxiety came the financial crisis brought about by the failure, in November 1890, of the great house of the Barings to meet their enormous liability of £22,000,000. The stability of the whole of British finance was threatened, but the Governors of the Bank of England came to the rescue, undertaking the liquidation of the concern and opening a guarantee fund, which was subscribed readily, and thus the disaster was averted. [Sidenote: County Councils.]