Conclusion
Senior's second period as Drummond Professor ended in 1852. The post of Master in Chancery was abolished in the same year, although Senior was not released from his duties until 1853.
He was entitled to receive during his life, by way of pension, the full amount of his salary as Master in Chancery (see Levy 1943: 319, fn. 340). He was then, at the age of sixty-three, free from all academic duties, business commitments and financial worries until the end of his life. In 1853, he was re-elected by ballot as a member of the Political Economy Club and continued to participate at meetings (see ibid.: 315). The ten years or so left to him were split into two broadly equal parts. The period up until 1859 was a time for long-distance overseas travel and journal writing. The period thereafter was spent on his usual annual trips to France; a longer visit around Scotland and Ireland; and in reflecting upon and in editing work he had already produced.The first long visit (from the end of February until early June 1855) was to France and Algeria and was quickly followed by an even longer visit (from early November 1855 to late April 1856) to France, Egypt and Malta. The visit to Egypt was as a result of an invitation to join an international commission of engineers investigating the possible construction of the Suez Canal (see Levy 1970: 174-177). At the time, Britain was politically and economically closer to India than any other European power. Senior's view was that if the project was practical then any opposition would be ineffectual and that Britain would be behaving selfishly to attempt to shut off Europe from easier communications with India as well as China. The last long visit (from the beginning of September 1857 until early May 1858) was to Turkey (Asia Minor), Greece and France. On all of these major tours, Senior took the opportunity to speak with many prominent people on a very wide range of topics, including literature, art, history, politics, religion and economics.
He acted almost as a roving ambassador with excellent connections, and whenever relevant he pressed the importance of free trade and competition.Alexis de Tocqueville died in April 1859 and his death prompted Senior to write a preface to the correspondence and conversations between them which had lasted for over a quarter of a century (see Simpson 1872). Also in 1859, Senior published a journal of his travels in Turkey and Greece which alone out of all his journals and conversations was published in his lifetime (Senior 1859). All of the others were edited and published after his death by Senior's daughter, Mary Simpson (Simpson 1871, 1878, 1882, 1898). Dimand (2004) provides interesting insights into Senior's Eastern travels, outlining his views and attitudes towards local cultures. He also makes a very important point concerning Senior's singular position among his contemporaries which is reinforced by his travel journals:
Senior's account of these countries as seen by a leading classical economist is unique, and therefore not typical of classical political economy: had Senior been more like his fellow classical economists, he would not have been there, and would not have produced that remarkable (and vast) body of documents, his journals, and conversations (ibid.: 74—75).
In 1861, Senior prepared a preface to his Journals, Conversations and Essays Relating to Ireland and in 1863 he wrote supplements to several old articles which were included in his Historical and Philosophical Essays.
Senior's address on education, delivered in October 1863 at the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science at which he again made a plea for State intervention in popular education, was his last contribution to public debate (Senior 1863). In January 1864, he fell ill and steadily deteriorated until his death aged seventy-three on 4 June. He had worked almost right up to his death, totalling fifty-one years since the start ofhis pupillage with Edward Sugden.
It seems appropriate, given his contributions to the magazine, to let The Economist, edited by Walter Bagehot, have the last word on their faithful contributor:
A man has just parted from among us who, though scarcely to be described as a prominent political or social character, rendered in his day and generation more important and various services to his country than many whose names are far more widely known and will, by the public at large, be much longer remembered. Our interest in him and England's concern with him were as a sound political economist and a very sagacious and persistent social reformer.. For years he was an active and voluminous writer on nearly all questions which could interest a cultivated mind—on literature, politics, law reform, and social progress.. Without being precisely a genial man he was eminently a kindly- natured man; those who lived with him and knew him intimately loved him much; he had no disturbing or unfriendly passions of any sort towards any one; and no prejudices to pervert an intellect singularly cool and clear. Few men have ever made more out of life. Not many are in the habit of turning it to better purposes (The Economist, 18 June 1864: 770—771).