Lanrence Oliphaat, an English author, born in 1829. He is the only son of Sir Anthony Oliphant, C. B., who was appointed chief justice of Ceylon in 1838. He was educated in England, and at an early age went to Ceylon, where he made the acquaintance of Jung Ba-hadoor, the Nepaulese ambassador to London, who visited Ceylon in 1850 on his way home, and accompanied him to Katmandu, the capital of Nepaul, On his return he published "A Journey to Katmandu" (London, 1852). He studied law at the university of Edinburgh, and was admitted to the bar. In the latter part of 1852 he visited Russia, descended the Volga, traversed the country of the Don Cossacks, and spent some time in the Crimea. His second work, "The Russian Shores of the Black Sea" (London, 1853), appearing on the eve of the Crimean war, passed through four editions in a few months. Mr. Oliphant was soon after appointed private secretary to the earl of Elgin, then governor general of Canada, and went to Quebec, where he was made superintendent of Indian affairs.

He travelled extensively both in the United States and in Central America, and published "Minnesota, or the Far West" (London, 1855). He also published anonymously at this period a pamphlet entitled "The Coming Campaign," on the best mode of conducting the war with Russia. It was republished under the title of "The Trans-Caucasian Provinces the Proper Field of Operations for a Christian Army." After his return from America he went to Turkey, and as a correspondent of the press accompanied Omer Pasha in a campaign, of which he gave an account in "The Trans-Caucasian Campaign of Omer Pasha" (London, 1856). In 1857, when Lord Elgin was sent as minister plenipotentiary to China, Mr. Oli-phant became his private secretary, and on his return published a "Narrative of the Earl of Elgin's Mission to China and Japan " (London, 1860). In 1801, while, acting as chargé d'affaires in Japan, he was severely wounded by assassins. He was elected to parliament from the Stirling boroughs in 18G5, but resigned in 1808 to join in the attempt at religious and social reformation conducted by Thomas L. Harris, at Portland, Chautauqua co., N. Y., where he now (1875) resides.

In 1870 he visited Europe, and was for a time correspondent of the London "Times" in Paris. In 1873-'5 he had charge in the United States and British America of the interests of the direct cable company, an ocean telegraph enterprise. He has also published a novel called "Patriots and Filibusters, or Incidents of Political and Ex-ploratorv Travel" (London, 1801), and "Piccadilly" (1870).