The Sun.
London, England, 1864-11-14 00:00:00

Death

loch.

The death of Mr M'Culloch on Friday last is the
loss of a valuable public servant and a distin-
guished man of letters. He had been for some
time past subject to attacks on the chest of a
dangerous tendency, and his last seizure a few
days since proved fatal. From its commencement
he gradually declined in strength, but retained all
his faculties till his last moments.
Mr M'Culloch was born in Wigtonshire on the let
of March, 1789, and he was, therefore, in his 76th
year. His father possessed a small freehold estate
in that county, and was of the class of small pro-
prietors in the English border counties denominated
" statesmen"—cultivators of their own acres. The
son received from his maternal grandfather, a Scotch
minister, his early education ; that is, he was

"grounded" in his mother tongue, with some ele-
mentary instruction in the dead languages after
the then Scotch fashion. On leaving school Mr
M'Culloch was placed in the cffice of a writer to
the Signet, but he did not pursue the profession

of the law. Ile settled in Edinburgh and at-
tended the public elasees of the University for
two years, but did not graduate or study for any

profession. Early in 1817 an accidental come
munication of Mr M'CullocYs to the Scotsman
(then first established) led to his connection with
that journal, and for some time he was the editor.
In the following year he commenced a series of
contributions to the Edinburgh Review, and also
gave lectures on political economy. In 1820 Mr.
M'Culloch quitted Edinburgh for London, con.
tinning his contributions to the Scotsman for some
years, but contributirg also to other periodical works
and giving lectures on political economy. In 1828
he was appointed professor of that science in Uni-
versity College, London ; but the chair being unen-
dowed, the number of students attending his lee•
tures was insufficient for his remuneration, and he
resigned the professorship. In 1838 the Whig Go-
vernment appointed him Controller of the London
Stationery-cffice, at a salary of £l,OOO per annum,
and he continued the head of this department till
his death. When he undertook its administration
the Stationery office was an Augean stable. The
long and habitual waste of paper in the con-
sumption of the public offices and in printing was
fabulous. Mr M‘Calloch accomplished a large
annual saving, far exceeding the cost of the depart•
went he presided over. By his stern economy and
hatred of "jobs" he of course created enemies ; but
his judicious savings and integrity were undisputed,
and are matters of record in Parliamentary reports

and returns.
Mr M'Culloch's more lasting and meritorious re
putation,however,was gained by his literary labours.
They were the result of forty years of study and
experience. Statesmen had attended his lectures in
London, and his contributions to periodical works
had been various and dffuse, But he now began
to realise his acquirements. In 1837 Mr Charles
Knight published, in two Bvo volumes, bis " Statism
tical Account of the British Empire." This valuable
work was subsequently republished by Messrs Long-
man in successive editions much enlarged. The
latter publishers brought out his " Dictionary of
Commerce and Commercial Navigation"—a standard
work annually reprinted and revised. These two
works may be considered his staple productions,
and they were reprinted in the United States and
translated in several European countries. His mis-
cellaneous works were numerous, and all more or
less valuable contributions to political and econo-
mical science. In 1828 he edited for Messrs Long.
man, in four vols. Bvo, the best edition of Smith's
" Wealth of Nations," with a life of the author, an
introductory discourse, notes, and supplemental
dissertations. In 1853 he published a volume of
" Treatises and Essays on Economical Po-
licy," comprising sketches of Quesnay, Adam
Smith, and Ricardo. This work was partly
a republication of articles contributed by the
author to the " Eucyclopoolia Britannica,,' but
All were carefully revised and in part re-
written, some essays appearing for the first
time. In the same year appeared his volume on the
"Principles of Political Economy," lastly corrected
and revised. In 1855 he published his treatise on the
" Principles and Practical Influence of Taxation and
the Funding System." In 1858 he also published
a valuable work on the " Succession to Property
vacant by Death ; including inquiries into the in.
fluence of primogeniture, entails, and compulsory
partition upon the public interests."
Mr M'Culloch collected a library on his own
special subjects of great value. It contained not
only almost every known English work on political
economy and statistics, but every foreign publication
on those subjects, and it comprised every pamphlet,
known or anonymous. In 1855 he published a
bibliographical volume on the literature of political
economy, a catalogue of his best books, with histo-
rical, critical, and biographical notices; and only
two years since he completed and privately printed
a more extended and valuable catalogue raisonne.
Of the latter volume a very few copies were pre.
rented to personal and literary friends. The motto
on the title-page of this volume was from Barrow :
"The reading of books, what is it-but conversing
with the Wisest men of • all ages and all countries,
who thereby communicate to us their most delibe-
rate thoughts, choicest notions, and best inventions,
couched in good expression, and digested in exact
method ? '
The genius of Mr M'Culloch was not inventive.
He sifted and recast the labours of others. Statistics
rather than the principles of political economy wer,
his forte; but his works were generally lucid and
sound. He occasionally indulged in paradox, but
in this error he only followed Malthus, Whately,
and Senior. There are unsolved problems in poli-
tical science, and men of genius in advance of their
generation, groping in the dark, must sometimes
lose their way. Mr M'Culloch was an original mem-
ber of the Political Economy Club. and he assisted
Lord 0 verstone in the publication of his lordship's
miscellaneous tracts on political economy. In social
life he was hospitable, genial, and warm-hearted,
and he was esteemed by a large circle of friends
1 who will deeply lament his loss.
it.

"We regret to have to announce the death," says

the Malta Observer, "on the 29th October, of Mgr. Public)
-de Conti Sant, late Archbishop of Rhodes and Bishop of
Malta, at the age of 85. He was created Bishop of Larada
in partibus in the year 1818, and on the death of Mgr.
Caruana in 1847 was raised to the highest ecclesiastical
post in Malta, which he continued to oceupy until 1857,
when he retired into private life. The late prelate was
greatly beloved by his flock for his Christian piety, and his
death has cast a deep gloom over the city."
TUE CON EDERATE PRISONERS IN CANADA.—Mr

G. N. Sanders, the well known Confederate agent, writes to
the Montreal Evening Herald, stating that " So soon as
the feet of Young's demonstration upon Vermont shall be
known at Richmond, there is no doubt that that Govern-
ment will take immediate steps to make their responsibility
and approval of the enterprise publicly and officially known,
and will assuredly communicate the fact of their responsi-
bility and of their approval to the Canadian and United
States authorities." _ _

SPAIN AND PERIL—The Epoca says—" In order
to remove the doubts raised by the conduct of Senor Barreda,
Minister in Peru, wo now state, upon excellent information,
that the fact of Senor Barreda not having earlier arrived in
Spain arises from the instructions of his government to
effect an arrangement, if possible, and to sign a treaty at
London or Paris with the Spanish representatives at those
Courts, which would afterwards be submitted to the Spanish
Government. To this end he would solicit the good offices
of the English and French Cabinets. The Spanish Govern-
ment has naturally made it the first of all conditions for an
honourable and acceptable settlement V the pending diffi-
culty that the Peruvian representative should come to
M adrid."

It is reported that Mr. Vining's tenure of the
Princess's Theatre will shortly expire. Rumour says that
among the conditions of the agreement under which Mr
Vining holds the theatre from Mr Webster, the leaseholder,
was a stipulation that no play by Mr Boucicault should be
acted. This was broken by the production of " The Streets
of London," and Mr Webster claims the penalty, and Mr
Vining has to leave.
Miss Herbert takes the St. James's from Boxing
Night with Mr and Mrs Frank Matthews in her company,
Mr William Brough is writing the burlesque.
ST. JAMES'S HALL—On Saturday afternoon the
"Wizard of the North" invited the following schools to
witness his ninth matinee, numbering over 750 boys and
girls :—St Botolph, Aldgate ; St John's Band of Hope,
Emmanuel Hospital, Bishopsgate Ward, and the Merchan,
Seamen's Orphan. The juveniles seemed to enjoy the treat
provided for them by Professor Anderson. Tho Commer-
cial Travellers' School at Pinner have accepted the invita'
tion for Saturday next,