The Sun.
London, England, 1865-10-27 00:00:00

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.

THIS DAY.—Morning, 6h. 30m.—Afternoon, 6h. 55m.
TJ-Mounow.-Morning, 7h. 25m.—Afternoon, Bh. Om,

tet g, k 414 • SUM

LONDON, FRIDAY, OCT. 27, 1865.

To-day will long be memorable as witnessing the
" last scene of all, that ends this strange eventful
history," in the career of one who will hold an
honoured place in the history of his country. The
feelings that will pervade those who attend the
grand ceremonial of to-day will be of a mixed
character. They will partake alike of triumph and
regret, of joy and sorrow, of proud memories and
sad reflections. The funeral array that will make
splendid the passage to the grave, and the long train
of honoured mourners that will follow the Premier
to his last hcme, are significant proofs of the esteem
in which he was held by all ranks and classes, by
all shades of politicians, and by men of divers
employments and distinct interests. A moral may
thus be drawn by those who study the pageant, and
by those who dwell upon its purport from a dis-
tance, that not alone in this great metropolis will
the obsequies of Lord PALMERSTON be the theme
of attention and the centre of thought. His name
will be the one uppermost in men's minds, and he
will thus be vividly associated with the stirring
scenes and active ways of a world that shall hence-
forth know him no more. He has, however, left
an impress of his steps on the way he trod so long,
and his countrymen cannot easily or readily forget
him. To-day, for the last time, he seems almost
to linger among us as a living presence, as the
sad cortege proceeds on its way to deposit
its honoured burden in the precincts of that
time-honoured edifice where rests so many of the
and close to where the most ex-
great and glorious,
citing and eventful hours of his life were spent,
whose grave now awaits him with all the pomp and
circumstance of woe. No attribute is wanting to
make the funeral of to-day appropriate and fitting,
and it is with such satisfaction as can possibly
attend the sad affair that we reflect upon the honour
and homage that are paid to the memory of the de-
parted. The young Prince appears to render a last
tribute of respect to him who served in the Cabi-
nets of Sovereigns, and swayed the councils of
Europe long before his august mother began her
'glorious reign, and who has yet survived to be her
most successful statesman and her most popular
minister. The colleagues who leant so much on
his wisdom, and always turned to him as a resource
in difficulties and danger, perform the last office
that friends can render, and bear the pall that
covers all that is mortal of their departed chief.
Ikrany public bodies are represented in the funereal
train, and the dignitaries of the land muster in
strong force to witness the scene. in this grand
display there is a deep meaning, for it is no mere
form that takes place to-day,and no empty show,
but a general feeling of regret fills the assemblage,

and a universal sentiment of respect pervades
all within and without the walls of the Abbey-, and
at a time like this the most volatile may pause to
reflect, and the most ignorant seek to be informed
as to the chief features which make this day so re-
markable, and this funeral an occasion for national
mourning. Lord PALMERSTON was a thorough
Englishman, devoted to his country, and faithful
to her interests. Throughout a long career in its

working capacities, far beyond the limits of human
energies and exertions, he was found firm at his post
and true to his calling. The appreciation of the
great body of the people of England has always
been through his life his most earnest support, and
his most cheering assurance of success, and the
sorrow and sympathy of that people who will follow
him to-day as he is borne to his honoured resting-
place. Foreign States have already been able to
comprehend in some measure the feelings that made
Lord PALMERSTON so popular among us, and now
they will find, though he has been called to the
land where all things are forgotten, we are not
willing to forget his devotion to all interests, his zeal
to exert himself for the general welfare, and the
genial spirit -which influenced and animated his
career. Rising statesmen may derive a useful
lesson from the event of to-day, and discover that it
is not always the most remarkable men, the most
shining, and the most gifted, who do the most
for their fellow-men, or who are the most
notable in their day and generation. It is not for
splendid gifts of oratory, or wonderful feats of
statesmanship, that Lord PALMERSTON was famed
in his life, or is lamented in his death. It was more
in direct acts than positive works that he did
amongst us, and yet who can deny that he filled a
position all, may well have aspired to, and has left
vacant a place that none living can fill among his
renowned contemporaries.

Perhaps the chief secret of Lord PALMERSTON'S
great success was that he did not aim at doing too
much, and he studied general results more than he
followed out particular purposes. In fact, he never
gave one the impression that he was monopolising
power to himself, and in this he formed a
striking contrast to Sir ROBERT PEEL, whose
weight in the Cabinet was considerable, but also at
times oppressive. Lord PALMERSTON never inter-
fered in a conspicuous manner with any of his col-
leagues, but if they got into trouble they were sure
to find a ready aid in him, and he was known
never to desert a friend. The last time he addressed
the House of Commons on a leading question was
in the debate that occurred concerning the doings
of Lord WESTBURY. Although unsuccessful in his
efforts, the noble lord strove to shield his colleague
with all the energy and all the dexterity which
characterised his palmier days, and Englishmen
will not be sorry to have such a characteristic recol-
lection for the closing scenes of his parliamentary
career. The character of the late Premier was
almost totally devoid of selfishness, and this quality
rendered him universally a favourite. Sometimes
men of the greatest genius and the most talented
capacities are too much wrapped up in themselves,
and too dictatorial in their manner to be popular
among their contemporaries, and are quite out of
the run of ordinary minds, and therefore those who
would make themselves most useful in their voca-
tion, and most regretted at their departure from this
fleeting stage of mortality, need not think that it is
an indispensable necessity for popularity to possess
particular abilities. Lord PALMERSTON was be-
yond doubt a great statesman, and enjoyed
many advantages through his facile mode
of dealing with complicated matters ; but
it is no exaggeration to state that his claim to
popular support, and his large share of public

favour, did not rest on his skill and his attainments,
but chiefly depended upon his public spirit and his
personal qualities. It was this rare combination of
political eminence with social attractions that made
him welcome everywhere, that insured him a cordial
reception from the palace to the cottage, from the
senate to the marts of industry and the halls of

learning, that broke through the trammels of con-
ventional distinctions, and put down the barriers
of political reserve and prejudice. It was

thus that with a particular regret we
see this great Minister gathered to his rest, for all
will miss the genial qualities and gracious manner
that served to adorn and soften the rugged road and
harsh aspects of official and Parliamentary life.
As was said by a distinguished man of a departed
worthy of last century, "An awful knell has informed
us• that the ashes of our revered statesman are pass-
ing through ourstreets to that sepulchral house where
our kings, our heroes, our statesmen, and our poets
will be honoured by an association with his mortal
remains, and in the hush that such a solemnity
casts upon material things, the fiercest strife of
political aspirants are forgotten, and men only re-
member that the vanity and vexation of earth are
over for the departed, and that he has entered
on another and a better existence." It has been
said by a poet, who was great in his descriptions,
that " even in our ashes live their wonted fires ;"
and surely Lord PALMEItSTON could have desired no
better tribute to • his memory than the general
mourning that was witnessed throughout the land
when he died, and the spontaneous desire that has
been expressed that he should lie down to rest among
our noblest and our mightiest, where distant foot-
steps echo through the corridors of time, and where
lives are written in the histories of natims. Our
great Minister may well be left in such fitting com-
pany, and it softens the regret of his departure from
among us to know that in the days to come, when
all who now witness this pageant have passed away,
the future generations of his countrymen may point
out his grave to those who come from afar to see
the honoured fane where England deposits her most
famous sons, leaving their fame in the safe keeping
of their survivors.

The addresses delivered at the Conservative ban-
quet held on Wednesday in North Warwickshire
were naturally chiefly occupied with the great topic
of the day, the death of Lord PALMERSTON, and no
more remarkable tribute could be paid to the talents
and achievements of the lamented statesman than
the cordial unanimity with which men of the most
opposite opinions unite in the expression of admira-
tion and sorrow.. It must be deeply gratifying to
the immediate friends of Lord PALMERSTON to re-
ceive such evidence that the great popularity which
he enjoyed during
his lifetime was not a mere
evanescent sentiment, created by his ready tact, his
happy adaptation to the public temper of the hour,
but was based upon a deeper and more abiding feel-
ing, a perfect confidence in his paramount devotion
to the interests of his country. Mr. NEWDEGATE
observed that some of the foreign journals, in pass-
ing judgment on his conspicuous career, have denies
that Lord PALMERSTON was a great man, but the
hon. gentleman might have noticed that the almost
unanimous declaration of the Continental press is
that he was before all things an Englishman, that
he sought above any other advantage the welfare
and greatness of his country. The general tribute
is, in fact, similar to the spirit of Lord RUSSELL'S
famous declaration, that his colleague was the Minis-
ter not of any foreign Power, but of England espe-
cially and exclusively. Mr. NEWDEGATE said justly,
in referring to the statement that Lord PALMER-
STON was not a great man, that a man who could
pass through such an ordeal as tried Lori PAL-
MERSTON and end the most popular Premier of his
day, must have have been a great man. For 51
out of the 57 years that he took part in public life
he held office, and he died leading an Administra-
tion whose views and opinions were, for the most
part, discordant from his own. Yet, as Mr. NEW-
DEGATE truly- observed, in remarking upon the
somewhat anomalous position of affairs, iu which