The Sun.
London, England, 1863-03-31 00:00:00

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LONDON, TUESDAY, MARCH 31, 1863.

Lord PALMERSTON'S popularity—unrivalled for
several years by that of any contemporary statesman,.
but latterly supposed by many to be on the decline—
yesterday in the North of this island received a very
signal recognition. The noble veteran's ovation was
apropos (as the country has for some time past been
aware it would be) of his formal installation as
Lord Rector of the Glasgow University. The elec-
tion of the Prime Minister to this point of
honour took place, it will be remembered,
as far back as the loth of last November. The
ceremony of installation has been since then inten-
tionally delayed, in order to afford the noble Vis-
count an opportunity for his personal attendance!
And in order, moreover, to secure to the mem-
bers of the ancient seat of learning to the Pre-
sidercy of which Viscount PALMERSTON had
been thus spontaneously elected by a majority
of the students, the enviable satisfaction of ac-
, cording to him not alone as their new Lord
Rector, but also as Statesman, as Orator, as Chief
Minister of the Crown of Great Britain, a Welcome
worthy of him and of themselves. That fitting
welcome has been given—and has been received.
The recollection of the incidents accompanying it,
the remembrance of the speeches delivered upon its
occasion, but more particularly those delivered by
Lord PALMERSTON himself, first of all in the after-
noon of yesterday, as the day of his Inauguration
as Lord Rector, and afterwards, in the evening,
when he was being feasted, according to the
jovial custom of the land, will long render the 30th
of March, 1863, a date of especial interest in the
annals of the University of Glasgow.
Already Glasgow University has inscribed upon
its roll of Lord Rectors many a name illustrious in
the records of chivalry, of statesmanship, of
learning, of oratory and of literature. Very many
years ago, the chair of the Lord Rector of
Glasgow University was occupied by a native-
peer, who was in va7our peerless, even then,
among the dauntless Sea Captains of Great
Britain, peerless saving in the person of the other-
wise matchless HORATIO NELSON. Who needs to be
told, when we have said this much, that allusion
could by possibility alone be here made (in terms
that applied to any one else would be simply an
extravagance) to the then youthful Captain,
Lord COCHRANE, the late venerable Admiral,
the Earl of DUNDONALD ? Not far re-
moved in time from the date when Lord
COCHRANE presided over the Glasgow University
as Lord Rector, the same position was occupied by
one of the most resplendent geniuses that ever
illuminated the political history of the Empire, one
in whose intellect were combined, in the rarest
harmony and the most affluent abundance, the ima-
gination of a Poet, the judgment of a Philosopher,
and (as it certainly appears now when he is read,
if it failed to appear when he was listened to) most
of the golden gifts appertaining to a Great.
Master of Oratory—EDMUND BURKE! Another
Lord Rector of Glasgow University, before
the close of the eighteenth century, was
that aptly named ADAM SMITH, magnificently
known as the "Author of the Wealth of Nations,"
the First Father or Founder, the BACON, the
KEPLER, the NEWTON of the Science of Political
Economy. Another Lord Rector yet, was that most
eloquent advocate, Sir JAMES MACKINTOSH: in
many respects a very phenomenon of erudition.
Another was spoken of in fitting terms yesterday
by the newly-installed Lord Rector of Nowadays
Viscount PALMERSTON, and was spoken of by that
noble premier in the simplest words of truth—as
" that great, that eminent, that wonderful man,"
HENRY, Lord BROUGHAM. Among the rest of Lord
PALMERSTON'S more immediately and variously-
gifted predecessors as Lord Rector, have been_
THOMAS CAMPBELL, the poet of the " Pleasures of
Hope—the noble Earl, now Chancellor of the
University of Oxford, and Chief of her
MAJESTY'S Opposition—Sir ROBERT PEEL and
Sir JAMES GRAHAM—Sir ARCHIBALD ALISON and
Sir BULWER LITTON—the noble Earl now Foreign
Secretary—the noble Duke now Lord Privy Seal
—the Governor-General of India, twice negotiator
of peace with the Chinese. And lea not least, to