The Sun.
London, England, 1863-04-15 00:00:00

I SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—The House of Commons transacted no
business yesterday. It adjourned to pay a signal
mark of respect to the memory of one of its mem-
bers ; and well might it do so, for the country has,
indeed, sustained a herby and irreparable loss. Sir
George Cornewall Lewis died on Monday last at hie
family seat in Herefordshire, whither he had gone
to seek relaxation from the labours of the session,
but where he was seized with the disease which has
abruptly terminated his useful and laborious life.
We have been recently drawing attention to the
great longevity of our statesmen, and the death of
Sir George Lewis, in his 58th year, come to rebuke
us for speculating on the duration of human life,
and to remind us how frail is the tenure by which
we hold the servicesof the most valued and respected
of our fellow citizens. But it is by no means to his
political services alone that Sir George Lewis owes
his great and well-deserved reputation. Before he
had taken any part in politics he was an earnest and
devoted student, labouring, if ever man dii , assidu-
ously and conscientiously in the pursuit of truth,
and loving every species of knowledge with a pure
and unselfish devotion for its own sake. At Oxford
he attained the highest honours in classical litera-
ture, and from that time up to the very latest mo-
ment of his life the study of the great models of an-
tiquity was his delight and relaxation. He has
written much and *Any on many subjects, philoso-
phical, literary, and philological. He enjoyed a
high reputation throughout Europe, and probably
has done more than any other critic to draw a clear
and strongly defined line between what is fabulous
and what is authentic in Roman annals. For many
years h© has contributed to the instruction of the
public, and even a few weeks before his death he
gave to the world an elegant and candid dialogue
on the best form of Government. Had Sir George
Lewis been nothing but a literary man he would
have filled a considerable space in the eyes of his con-
temporaries, and he would have established claims
to the regard of posterity. But his death would not
have been that grievous loss which every one intui-
tively perceives it to be. Sir George Lewis has lived
from his youth upwards a double life, one-half of
which was devoted to literature, and the other to
practical business. To anything like oratory he
never made any pretension. Cairn and unimpas-
sioned himself, he addressed himself almost exclu-
sively to the reason of his audience. His voice was
agreeable, his manner simple, yet courteous and
conciliatory, his illustrations apt, his knowledge
wide and accurate, and his manner of dealing with
his subject plain and straightforward. He conci-
liated confidence, he disarmed opposition, and spoke
with a weight and authority which is seldom at-
tained by more ambitious and rhetorical speakers.
Such were his usual characteristics, but those who
have listened to his happier efforts, such as his ad-
mirable speech on the transfer of the Government
of India from the Company to the Crown, will net
deny to him a species of eloquence of his own, aris-
ing from clearness of arrangement, simplicity of
language, and a certain conviction that he was
in the right, which he created in his audience.
Raised to the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer
in 1855, Sir George Lewis discharged its duties
during three eventful years greatly to his own
honour and to the advantage of the country. All his
abstract speculations and all his classical researches
bad not weakened him in that never-failing practi-
cal good sense which commended him alike as a
safe guide to the theoretical economist and the prac-
tical man of business. Without making any pre-
tence to ingenuity, subtlety, or novelty, Sir George
Lewis, by the clearness and candour of his state-
ments, and by the simplicity and straightforward-
ness of his financial measures, thoroughly satisfied
the country that its affairs were in discreet as well
as able hands. He has Lever since then held an
office so congenial to his character and talents, but
he has up to the last moment of his well-spent and
honourable life never lost his hold upon the esteem,
we might say, the partial attachment, of the great
assembly of which he was an ornament and a fa-
vourite. Under that mild and unassuming exterior,
those simple and unaffected manners, that plain and
straightforward utterance, was concealed a power
rare and valuable at all times, and never more
needed than at the present time. No man sought
less for popularity; no man studied lees to bend and
shape his opinions to meet the temper or the pre•
judices of his audience; and yet no one ever more
entirely achieved that very popularity for which he
disdained, or at any rate forbore, to struggle.
Among all the persons with whom he was brought
into contact in the course of an active and checkered
career, Sir George Lewis never made a single
enemy; nay, more, it was very difficult to be brought
in contact with him without wishing to become his
friend. He inspired with the utmost confidence not
only his own party, but his political opponents.
Always ready to admit large practical modifications
of speculative truth, or to acquiesce in the wisdom
of pursuing his objects with temperance and mode-
ration, he had the rare felicity of enjoying the con-
fidence and esteem of all parties. He was regarded
on all sides as a safe and discreet practical guide, as
the man who knew better than any other how to
conciFate theory with practice, and to play the part
of the Statesman without forgetting the principles
of the philosopher. These qualities made him above
all men the probable nucleus of some future coalition;
the person qualified beyond alt others to draw
together discordant parties and interests, and to
unite them in the pursuit of the public good, at
whatever sacrifice of personal prejudice or predi-
lection. The time has not yet come, but no one can
say how far it may be distant, when we may learn,
by sad experience, the full amount of the loss which
we have sustained in the death of a statesman
trusted by all, and the object of fear and jealousy to
none. Sir George Lewis has died, and left the mis-
sion which all men of foresight attributed to him un-
accomplished. Yet it can hardly be said that his
life was incamplete or imperfect. Into those 57
laborious years he had crowded and concentrated
centuries of labour. He knew no relaxation but
variety of intellectual employment. The duties of
his political position called him from his study, and
their intermission restored him with fresh relish to
his books. His was no light or perfunctory method
of investigation. The notes to his works bear tes-
timony to his untiring diligence and to the vast
mass of authorities which he conscientiously and
carefully consulted. People smiled to sea a Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer investigating the fabulous
annals of early Roman history, and a Secretary of
State detailing with a most conscientious minute-
ness the astronomical aberrations of Grecian philo-
sophers. Yet thera was in all this the most
perfect simplicity and sincerity, no affectation
of versatility, no desire to surprise by the
variety of his knowledge or the immensity of his
labour. To vanity, whether of ability or industry,
the simple and philosophical mind of Sir G. Lewis
was entirely superior. He read because it was his
delight to acquire knowledge—he wrote because his
mind was full, and it was a pleasure to impart it.
It has been his felicity to confer, dignity on lite-
rature by showing how happily it may be blended
with political eminence, and to honour and adorn
public life by showing that its highest prizes may
be honourably won and firmly grasped without re-
nouncing the pursuit of abstract truth or the wild-
cation of a liberal spirit of inquiry. But all this
unremitting exertion would have required for its
longer continuance a frame made of other materials
than the frail tabernacle in which the soul is de-
stined to dwell. The spirit was ever willing and
eager, but the body was unable to answer the de-
mands thus incessantly made upon it. It lasbroken
down, and all the treasures of varied knowledge and
wisdom collected with such unceasing labour in a
single mind are scattered to the winds. But if the
public have such reason to mourn the loss of Sir G.
Lewis, what must be the feelings of his private
friends ? Cold and unimpassioned, as he seemed, no
man possessed more the art of attracting and retain-
ing the regard of others—no one was more steadier
in his friendships, no one kinder or more winning
in the social relations of life. Of spotless honour,
uniting simplicity and sincerity with high ability
and immense knowledge, and adorning these solid
qualities with genuine wit and unfailing cheer-
fulness, how could a man so capable of gaining the
esteem of his opponents fail to wind himself into
the innermost affections of his associates and
friends ?

HERALD.--Earl Russell has been making April
fools of Greece and Europe. He recommended the
Greeks to elect Prince William without the sanction
of the father and guardian of the Prince, without
the sanction of the King or Government of Den-
mark, and without even the knowlodge of the
Danish Minister in London. The first inkling the
world got of this strange mad proceeding was the
complaint of Earl Russell's organs that Prince
Christian had set up s ime impossible con-
ditions, and the declaration of a Danish
newspaper that Denmark could only give
her consent upon terms which it was quite im-
possible to accede to. The astonishment 'was
general. It appeared quite incredible that Earl
Russell could have invited the Greeks to elect
the Prince without having first assured himself
that the persons entitled to impose conditions fully
acceded to the nomination ; but Earl Russell had
done so, and Mr. Layard tacitly admitted as much
last night. Lord Henry Lennox asked the under
Secretary last night whether it was by the recom-
mendation of the English Government that the
National Assembly of '
Greece had proceeded to the
election of Prince William of Denmark secondly,
whether it was with the consent of the King and
Government of Denmark, and full knowledge and
consent of Prince Christian, that so decided a step
was taken ; and thirdly, if not so, whether it was
after consultation with the Danish minister in Lon-
don; or, if rot, by whose authority the step had'

been taken. To these questions Mr. Layard refused
to reply, and when Lord Henry Lennox intimated
his intention to repeat them to-day the Under Secre-
tary had the coolness to say that he would not an-
swer them even then. This most unprecedented
conduct pot the part of the Government is suffi-
cient evidence that the recommendation was given
without the consent of the King and Government
of Denmark, without the full knowledge and con•
sent of Prince Christian, and without the know•
ledge of the Danish ambassador here. But we can
go beyond this evidence, and state most decidedly
the step was taken without the consent or knowledge
of Prince Christian, of the King of Denmark, or of
the Danish Minister. What condemnation can be
too severe for such an escapade The Greeks have
been tricked again. Prince Christian has been per-
sonally insulted. The Danish Government and
people have been wantonly outraged. Prince Chris-
tian said he would consider the subject. He told Earl
Russell that in any case the consent of the Danish
Government must be obtained. Earl Russell, with-
out waiting for the condition, without asking the
Danish Government for its consent, recommended
the Greeks to elect the Prince. We are at a loss
to discover what excuse can be offered for such an
outrageous piece of folly. Mr. Layard is, no doubt,
attempting to evade all explanation, in the hope that
some influences may be brought to bear upon Prince
Christian and the King of Denmark which will re-
pair this madcap fri ak of his chief ; but the country
will not submit to have its prestige destroyed by
these follies, and Parliament will, we trust, enforce
a full explanation, and follow it up by an emphatic
censure.
LONDON GAZETTE—Yesterday.

WAR-OFFICE, APRIL 10.
The Queen has been graciously pleased to give orders for
the appointment of Major John Clayton Cowell, of the
Royal Engineers, the Governor to his Royal Highness the
Prince Alfred, to be an Ordinary Member of the Civil
Division of the Third Class, or Companions, of the Most
Honourable Order of the Bath.