The Sun.
London, England, 1865-06-10 00:00:00

The late Sir Joseph Paxton.

The announcement of Sir Joseph Paxton's death
will be received throughout the country with sincere
regret. He rose from the ranks to be the greatest
gardener of his time, the founder of a new style of
architecture, and a man of genius, who devoted it
to objects in the highest and noblest sense popular.
England is the nursing mother of self-made men,
and in this generation the numoer of them has been
greater than in any former age. They bring them-
selves to the front by their natural force, often in spite
of many obstacles due to defective early training and
education. Society benefits enormously by their
achievements, and would, perhaps, be grateful if it
knew how; but as a class they are difficult to deal
with, and there is something to be said for the indif-
ferent treatment which they too often receive at its
hands. Paxton's great good fortune threw him
among persons and engaged him upon objects which
made his case from the commencement excepskonal
in this respect. Though humbly born, he was still a
young man, and in the employ of the Royal Horti-
cultural Society, when he attracted the attention of
the late Duke of Devonshire; and it is a striking
example of the opportunities which men of high rank
possess of winning reputation that the house of Ca-
vendish should have had a sensible addition made to
its lustre by the judicious selection of a gardener.
Under the skill of Paxton the wild Derbyshire region
in which Chatsworth stands became the wonderful
place which drew visitors from far and near, and set
the example of that princely development of
grounds and pleasances which now marks the
country homes of the great English families. Its
fountains and Italian terraces ; its rich woods laid
out with such marvellous care ; its hothouses,
where the Victoria Regia was first compelled to
blossom ; and the great conservatory, which was the
precursor of the Crystal Palaces in Hyde Park and
at Sydenham—all are now become familiar objects
of admiration. But while Chatsworth attracted the
loftiest personages as visitors, its grounds were still
left freely open to the dense manufacturing popula-
tions close at hand, and Paxton used always to
dwell proudly upon this trait in the character of " my.
Duke," as he called him, who was willing to share
with the humblest of his countrymen his own pas-
sion for flowers. It was as a gardener that Paxton
first made a name for himself ; but it was in the
large sense of the word, as one who by a kind of in-
stinct had the beautiful in nature at command to
embellish the landscape, and without the ordinary
processes of scientific study had practically all
the laws of plant life at his call. In these
delightful pursuits a vigorous, kindly, and
sensitive disposition expanded congenially. He
had many friends, but they belonged to no
set, or party, or clique ; nor was there any-
thing narrow or sectarian about the man in his rela-
tions with other men. Friendship was a plant which
he loved to cultivate wherever it would grow—among
the nobly born if they sought him ; among literary
men and artists, with whom he had close , and
cherished relations ; among the great captains of in-
dustry, who appreciated and were proud of him ;
but most of all among younger men than himself
whom he could help or cheer on their path through
life.

When the scheme of the first Great Exhibition
threatened to fall through for want of a suitable
building, this was the man who stepped forward to
solve the difficulty. The architects and the engi-
neers had brought matters to a dead lock, and a
great national fiasco, the most humiliating thing
that could happen to a practical people like ours,
seemed imminent. Then Paxton came with his
simple but comprehensive design, and all difficulty
vanished. The genial gardener was so clearly and
unmistakeably right in what he proposed, and he had
so many backers in every direction, that, as if Pro-
spero's wand had waved, opposition vanished. The
fairy structure was erected, and, as all the world well
remembers, the greatest triumph of the Great Exhi-
bition was loudly proclaimed to be the building. So
strongly was this felt at the time that a vigorous effort
was made to retain it permanently where it stood,
and in this Paxton, now Sir Joseph Paxton, strenu-
ously joined. But the effort failed. The House of
Commons would have the Park restored to its pre-
vious state, and there can be no doubt now that the
House decided wisely. While at Kensington the
Commissioners of 1851 and the Horticultural Society
are struggling with the almost hopeless difficulties of
a garden no longer suburban and closely hedged in
on every side with chimneys, the old Crystal Palace,
removed to the first slope of the Surrey hills, and re-
constructed there amidst terraces and fountains, and
a landscape of surpassing beauty and extent, is a
thing by itself in the whole world. It has cost a mil-
lion and a half of money, but bit by bit its self-sup-
porting character becomes more firmly established.
The railways are every day making it more and more
accessible to the huge population of London. Music
is getting reconciled to a glass and iron home there,
and all this has been done with the money of the
people, for their own instruction and recreation,
mainly by Paxton. He had many fellow workers, and
he was not the man to deny any of them their share,
but he was the foremost among them, and we best
show our estimate of his performance when we take
foreigners there to see and wonder. This was
Paxton's " magnum opus," and will now be hismonu-
ment. He built several great country houses; he was
a director of the Midland Railway, and engaged in
other commercial and industrial undertakings. Dur-
ing the Crimean War he organised a Navvy Corps,
which did excellent service in road-making and
other works for the army. He was also a Member
of Parliament, having represented Coventry, as a
Liberal, since 1854. But in none of these respects
does his name claim more than a passing notice. His
real title to the regrets of his contempararies and
the regard of those who come after, is the work
which he did as a gardener and garden architect,
the impulse which he has given to the love of the
beautiful in nature, especially among our great town
populations ; above all, the English breadth and
genuineness of his character, which made him the
object of affectionate regard to so many friends.
Sir Joseph died yesterday morning at 8 o'clock at
his house, close to the Crystal Palace. He had been
very ill there for some mouths past, but his end
came suddenly at last. He was not more than 62
years of age, and was a native of Bedfordshire.

A Paris correspondent of the Journal de Genbie
says that within the last few days Prince Napoleon,
according to the statements of his friends at the Palais
Royal and Meudon, "has returned to better sentiments,
and that, instead of wishing to brave the Emperor, he is
prepared to recognise the fault he has committed. Ire
persists nevertheless in his resignation of the vice-presi-
dency of the Privy Council (which assuredly no one will
object to), but he will retain his functions as President of
the Universal Exhibition. The resolution is all the more
proper, inasmuch as the Prince of Wales, as president of
the English Commission, would be forced to resign if
Prince Napoleon did not again place himself at the head of
the French Commission, the Prince of Wales being unable
to act on terms of equality except with a member of the
imperial family.
A singular fact in natural history has just been
observed on the manor of Lavesore, near Decize
(Nievre). In the same nest were found eleven eggs of a
grey partridge and three of a red one. The nest was
closely watched, and after the 14 eggs had been hatched,
the red partridge, the one with three young ones only, led
the whole band. It is thought that the two mothers had
fought for the possession of the brood.