The Press.
London, England, 1857-05-16 00:00:00

THE LATE MR. DAVID TREVENA

COULTON.
THE remains of this lamented gentleman were
brought, on Thursday, by railway from Brighton to
Croydon, and were followed therm) to the family
vault in the Norwood cemetery. The funeral was
strictly private. Amongst the mourners were Mr.
Gruneisen, Mr. Robert Bell, Mr. S. C. Hall, Mr.
Owen Maddyn, Mr. Smith ( his private solicitor), Mr.
Siddel, with some other personal friends, and the ztaff
of Tile PRESS office. Within the brief limits of a news-
paper obituary we cannot render an adequate tribute
to the character and abilities of our lamented friend
We more readily abstain from any;attempts at present
to delineate them, as a copious memoir of him by a
competent pen rill before long be submitted to the
public. We shall subjoin a brief notice of some of
the particulars of his life.
Mr. Coulton was born at Devizes, in Wiltshire, on
the 3rd of October, 1810. When about twelve years
of age he lost his father, and from that time his
mother, his sister (a most accomplished lady, who
survives the brother whom she idolised), and Mr.
Coulton, were never separated. Like other eminent
men, Mr. Coulton seems to have inherited his talents
from his mother, who was the daughter of a wealthy
Ln-iculturist in Middlesex. She had married in
early life the late Mr. James Coulton, who was the
son of the Rev. J. Coulton, Dean of Bristol. Of Mrs.
Coulton, it was remarked by a leading statesman that
"it she had devoted her talents to literature she
would have gained high fame." When a boy, Mr.
Coulton's health was so delicate that he was not sent
to a regular school, and a tutor was engaged for him.
Even in his early years he manifested a strong dis-
position for a literary life, and in early manhood he
was a contributor to several periodicals and maga-
zines. In 1839 he founded the Britannia, and from
that date ( with a brief interval) his ardent mind
wAs concentrated on the politics of the time. The
line of politics mainly adopted by him in the
Britannia was to extend and popularise the principles
of Conservatism, and to uphold national Protestantism
as embodied in the institutions of the realm. He
had nearly all the merits which mark the English
school of political writers. His understanding was
singularly plastic, and he could contract or expand
an argument with rare dexterity of logic. While en-
d° ved with no ordinary imaginative power, his rea-
soning faculties were of the highest order, but their
chief felicity was in the application of ascertained
principles to the sudden emergencies produced by
social changes. Always popular in his mode of com-
position, he could be profound in his treatment of
complex questions.
His writings during the early years of the late Sir
R. Peel's Administration are especially remarkable.
We recollect being struck by them at the time, and
a well-known public writer told us recently that when,
three )ears ago, he hal occasion to refer to the
Britannia for historical purposes, he " was sur•
prised at the uncommon sagacity with which Mr.
Coulton had treated the masked policy of the
Minister." Mr. Coulton gave the Peel Ministry an
independent support in its early stages, but he re-
peatedly called the attention of the great mass of the
Conservatives to the peculiarity of their position ;
and when the Conservative newspaper interest suf-
fered severely from the schism of 1847, Mr. Coulton
tlnought proper for a time to withdraw from active
journalism, and sold his property in the Britannia
in 1850.

Mr. Cottlton then married the amiable lady who
laments his loss, and went to reside at Goudhurst,
in Kent, where he occupied himself with agricultural
pursuits, and used his pen chiefly for recrea-
tion. His successful novel of " Fortune " was
written in early life, but was not published until
1853. About the same time he contributed some
articles to the Quarterly Review, and the late Mr.
Lockhart entertained the highest opinion of his
masculine mind and versatile powers. In lg3l he
was invited to act as political editor of this
journal. It is not for us to speak of his incessant
energy end the varied range of his powers, nor is
Vies the time when we could hope to do justice to
talents which commanded the respect of formidable
but generous adversaries. On the publication of his
posthumous works, we shall have a better opportu-
nity for a tribute to his eminent abilities.

But it was not alone the talents of Mr. Coulton, nor
his greatattainments, which secured him the respect of
so many friends. It was the union of strong abilities
with strong virtues, of a clear and commanding
intellect with a pure and upright heart, that won for
him the attachment of so many honourable minds.
Upright, candid, and strictly moral, his abilities were
enhanced by his virtues. His religion wits animated
with the masculine piety of a mind prone to
reflection upon the deep truths of Revelation, and the
daily practice of his life was in accordance with oue

THE PRESS.

who ruled his actions by the highest standard.
These noble qualities were well summed up in the
emphatic eulogy which came from one of the most
distinguished literary men of the day—" I never
knew a man who was personally so great a credit to
English journalism as 1). T. Coulton "—a remark
which came from a political opponent.
One of the works which he has left in manuscript,
it is expected, will display some of the best qualities
of his genius. It is entitled "The Threshold of
Life ; or, Letters from a Father to his Son on his
entrance to the World." It is stated that some time
before the author's decease, the copyright of this work
was secured by Mr. Murray. A complete volume on
the history of Junius (entirely distinct from his well-
known essay in the Quarterly Review) is amongst
his pap'rs. We believe, also, that some anonymous
works on science issued from his pen. In Physics
Mr. Coulton had considerable attainments. He was
a mechanician of great ingenuity, and he invented a
new kind of atmospheric railway, which has attracted
the favourable notice of many men of science. He
expended much time and money in the elaboration
of this latter invention. Not long before his de-
cease he had matured a comprehensive plan for a
most important literal>, enterprise, which may yet be
submitted to the public.