The Sun.
London, England, 1865-10-19 00:00:00

LONDON, THURSDAY, OCT. 19, 1865.

A great man has passed from amongst us. One
of our very greatest. One certainly, at the time of
his death, occupying the gran.dest position any subject
of the Crown could occupy—wielding the largest
authority—enjoying the widest popularity—holding
amongst all his contemporaries the most lengthened
and the most fully sustained, if not also the most
resplendent political reputation. Lord PALMER-
STON, when he breathed his last, died most assuredly,
in the fullest meaning of the old familiar words,
full of years and full of honours. Had he survived
until to-morrow he would have attained the 81st
anniversary of his birth. And yet, although he had
actually passed the allotted age of man, the scrip-
tural threescore years and ten, by eleven years less
only forty-eight hours, he expired not merely still
in harness, as the phrase is, but still bearing upon
his shoulders the weighty responsibility of Prime
Minister of England. And he was not so much
the Leader of the Government, as he was, to all in-
tents and purposes, in his own person, in his own
popularity and reputation, the Government. The in-
congruous elements of the Cabinet he had formed have
only been held together during all these years by his
individual influence. Removed from the midst of
the Ministry by death, from his central and supreme
position in the midst of it, Lord PniziEnsTox is as
certain as possible to have his personal importance
very signally and quite conclusively indicated by
the fact of that Ministry's rapid disintegration now
that its great chieftain, its originator, its sustainer'
has disappeared from the scene. Lord PALMERSTON'S
popularity, every one has long felt to be, the
one thing essential to its continued existence.
During the interval of the long vacation, in other
words, until Parliament shall assemble there will be
very probably a sort of Ministerial interregnum by
which a few months may be tided over. That is, if
the jealousies of rival statesmen in the Ministry, will
permit of any such temporary arrangement ! By
etiquette, almost we had said by right, the

only one amongst the surviving members of
the present Cabinet who has already been
Prime Minister of England, meaning Earl
RUSSELL, before he was yet Earl RUSSELL, while he
was still known by his historical title of courtesy as
Lord JOHN RUSSELL, ought now to have the one-
rous and in some respects hardly enviable privilege
of succeeding the Great Statesman, now lying dead
in Brockett Hall, as head of Her MAJESTY'S Go-
vernment. Other claimants to that lofty position
are talked of, it is true, as likely to be selected by
Her MAJESTY, in preference to the noble earl at the
Head of the Foreign-office. The Earl of CLARENDON
is one of these—the chief of the great house of
VILLIERS, and himself very eminently distinguished
among contemporary administrators. Another is
the Earl GRANVILLE, already occupying such
high rank in the Ministry, over which it is thought
he may be called upon to preside, that, even now,
he is at once Lord President of the Council and
Leader of the House of Peers. In many re-
spects, however, there remains still to be men-
tioned a yet more formidable competitor for
the Premiership (among the Chiefs of the
Government side in the two houses) than either of
the three eminent men just now mentioned—than
Earl RUSSELL, or Earl GRANVILLE, or the Earl of
CLARENDON. There is Mr. GLADSTONE—ROW be-
yond a doubt of it, intellectuallyfaci/eprinceps among
the members of the Cabinet in the House of Com-
mons. But—significantly enough as it seems to
us—the organ of what may be called (if any one
of the distinct political parties can lay claim to
the title) Mr. Gladstone's party—the organ,
that is to say, of the extreme radical party, Mr.
BRIGHT'S party, the all but revolutionary party—the
Morning Star blurts out the acknowledgment that
Mr. GLADSTONE'S day has not yet arrived ! While,
however, the Lieutenants of ALEXANDER, so to
speak, are already naeditatin g, thus, a vigorous struggle
amongst themselves for the division of his empire,
now thatthe sceptre of authorityhas slipped from the
cold and stiffened hand of their chieftian—there lie
yet awaiting interment at the hand of his fellow-
countrymen (an interment of befitting splendour and
solemnity) the remains of the ruler of an empire
far more vast and powerful than the one which
ALEXANDER conquered—vaster and more powerful
even than the Empire ALEXANDER wept for, accord-
ing to the old apocryphal anecdote.
It is scarcely on his own account, it is scarcely for
his own sake, or in his own interests, that Lord
PALMERSTON'S removal from amongst us can reason-
ably be lamented. His life was rounded to a circle.
His career was, in very truth, completed. He had
attained the highest position in this Commonwealth.
He had enjoyed the occupation of it for fully ten
years: For one entire decade he had as Prime
Minister wielded or presided over the destinies
of the whole British Empire. During more than
half a century he had held in various capacities high
official rank as a member of various Governments.
Twice he had formed and held together a Govern-
ment of his own. His political career was so pro-
tracted that it extended over two distinct generations.
He was Secretary-at-War during the epoch of the
Great NAPOLEON. He was Prime Minister during
nearly the whole of the twelve years that have
already elapsed of the reign of NAPOLEON 111. He
was the greatest Foreign Minister England has ever
had at the head of her diplomacy. He was, to all
foreign nations, during the chief part of
this half century last passed, the greatest,
the most formidable, and the most renowned
of all representative Englishmen. His popularity
and reputation were such among his own country-
men—that Sir ROBERT PEEL could say in his regard,
amidst the cheers of the House of Commons, " We
are all proud of him !"—that Sir BULWER LYTTON
could define Lord PALMERSTON'S chivalric character
thus tersely, nobly, and accurately, in a single

verse—

" He rode to war no vizor to his helm 1"

And what is very remarkable, looking back now at
Lord PALMERSTON'S career, his popularity has
known no declension or diminution. It has
only ripened and expanded. When he died it
was at its very highest. The last General Elec-
tion was of itself a conspicuous and conclusive
attestation that it was so. It was so conspicuous
and so conclusive an attestation of the fact we
are here insisting upon, that it might almost be
spoken of as Lord PALMERSTON'S political Eutha-
nasia ! It was a false issue that went to the country
in that General Election, but the result of it was
evidence of an exceptionally resplendent kind, that
Lord PALMERSTON'S individual repute, that his
personal popularity, great though they had been
previously for years upon years, were never so great
as they were at the very last. His reputation,
hispopularity, in fact, outrode all competition. They
left him, venerable veteran though he was, still
completely Master of the Situation. In defiance
of his Foes ! In despite of his own Colleagues !
And it is this Great Man, this Famous Eng-
lishman, this Patrician - Gentleman, this fore-
most Statesman amongst his Contemporaries,
who has but just now passed from amongst us,
and to whose dead body the Nation will have to
accord suitable sepulchral honours, under the roof-
beams, we presume, of Westminster Abbey. He
had secured all the honours he could reasonably have
aspired to in life. We must bestow upon him that last
and crowning honour. now that he is dead. In life
—down to the moment of his death—ho was First
Minister of the Crown. He had been for many years
Foreign Secretary. He had been Home Secretary.
He had been twice Prime Minister. He had all the
coveted initials that ambitious Englishmen delight
in gathering together—K .G., G.C.8., P.C., M.P.,
D.C.L., and what not. He had the blue
riband of the Garter, and the red riband of
the Bath. He was Lord Warden of the
Cinque Ports, and Constable of Dover Castle,
and Elder Brother of the Trinity ,Reuse, and Lord
Rector of Glasgow University, and all the rest of it.
He had ample wealth, a splendid constitution, and
lived to:eighty-one years of age. He breathed his last,
while yet at the head of affairs, calmly and peacefully,
in his bed, surrounded by his family, hon-
oured, and admired, and respected by all
parties, ranks, and classes among his fellow_
countrymen. The least we can do, now that he
has gone, the least we can do as a last evidence of
our appreciation for one so venerable in years, so
lofty in character, and so illustrious in position,
is—that we should inter his dead body with all
appropriate funereal magnificence among the kin-
dred great ones who already lie buried there in
the old Abbey at Westmister.

The death of Lord PALMERSTON has caused a sud-
den shock to the community, and spread a gloom
over all circles, social and political. It is, indeed,
not more than once in a generation, if so often, that
a public man is called away whose death is felt so
deeply, and exercises so great au influence far
and wide. The noble lord was one of those men
whose individual qualities create for them a place in
the esteem of men apart from the reputation which
attaches to their achievements. The long life of our
late
limitsPro7 mortality, Premier has beyond the ordinary
yet, until very near its
close, there were
no signs of decay or dimi-
nution of energy. Although the intelligence
of his death took many by surprise, it was ,