The Sun.
London, England, 1869-09-15 00:00:00

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 15, 1869.

One of the most charming among the many ad-
mirable biographic articles adorning the columns of
the Time's, immediately after the death of this or of

that eminent personage, is the masterly sketch, by
way of tribute to the memory of lAdy PALMERSTON,
which appears this morning in our leading con-

temporary. It is a companion picture to the
one referred to in its opening sentence, as still

conspicuous among the treasures of art banging upon
the walls at Paushanger, the seat of Earl COWPER,
in Hertfordshire. The portraiture in each instance
is of the self-same iudividual—E3llLY MARY (the
gimes calls her AMELIA), daughter of the first Vis-
count MELBOURNE, and wife successively of the

fifth Earl COWPER, and of the third Vis-
count PALMERSTON. The painting at Panshanger,
which i 3 from the master-hand of S r JOSHUA
REYNOLDS, represents the great lady, recently de-
ceased, as she appeared in her earliest childhood, as
a blooming little lassie, carrying in her hand a basket
of flowers, and grouped there (in the picture of Sir
JosimA) with her two brothers, WILLIAM and
FREDERICK LAMB, afterwards respectively second and
third Viscount MELBOURNE—the elder of the two
for nearly seven consecutive year Prime Minister cf

TILE SUN, LONDON,

' England, and as such, it may be added here, with the
simplest truth, the political " guide, philosopher, and
and friend" of the reigning Sovereign. The written
and printed sketch, which appears in the Times of
this rooming, and which, as a matter of course,
appears there anonymously, presents to our view,
on the other hand, the great lady as she
was in our recent rememembrance. There is an
interval of a long life-time between the two por-
traitures. A lapse of very nearly eighty years
between the time when the pretty child stood before
the great painter, with the basket of flowers in her
hand, to have her picture taken, and the moment
when the venerable lady breathed her last, at mon
than the age of an octogenarian. Born in 1781',
married to Lord COWPER in 1805, married to Lord
PALMERSTON in 1839, dead only the other day at the
age of eighty-three—that is the simple chronolo-
gical outline of a career which has been
sketched in with so many delicate and most
felicitous touches by the skilled hand which has,
just now, in the columns of our contem-
porary, drawn the very " counterfeit presentment"
of Lady PALMERSTON'. Admirably effective and
subtlj discriminative as that limning of her life and
character is undoubtedly as .a whole, it nevertheless
appears to us as though it accorded in one sense but
scant justice to the inimitable tact, the incompar-
able discretion, the exquisite womanly adroitness with
which Lady PALMERSTON, in the later years of her
life, aided, and abetted, and ministered to, and fur-
thered, and enhanced by her refined co-operation the
immense and, in the end, the unrivalled political in-
fluence of her illustrious husband, in whose grave, in
Westminster Abbey, side by side with him, her remains
are to-morrow to be solemnly interred. Smooth sail-
ing though it was in the end—with Lord PAL-
MERSTON, during the days of his Premiership—he had
led a life of extraordinary difficulty. He was for many
years the subject of persistent political cabals, a
centre towards which the shafts of envies and jealou-
sies innumerable, were, during those years, unceasingly
directed—through the midst of which, while himeell
battling his way manfully against all opposition—
entering the lists always, as Lord LYTTON has sung of
him, " no vizor to his helm"—his incomparable wife,
his true helpmate in all the toils and difficulties of
life, was ever there, not only ready to aid, but
aiding him with a perfect and exquisite dex-
terity. Married in 1839, Lord PALMERSTON
was then Foreign Secretary in the Government of
Lady PALMERSTON'S brother, WILLIAM, Viscount
MELBOURNE. Within.two years after that marriage
Lord MELBOURNE'S Cabinet was broken up. Between
1841 and 1846, Lord PALMERSTON was in opposition.
He might have taken office again as Foreign Secretary
at the turn of the years 1815 and 1816, only that
Lord GREY refused to accept office if Lord PALMER-
STON resumed the Foreign Portfolio. After a six
month's prolongation of Sir ROBERT PEEL'S Govern-
ment, Lord GREY waived his objection, it is true, and
Lord PALMERSTON once more became Foreign Secre-
tary. But who remembers not the sequel ? Who does
not recollect how, after dealing, as only a consummate
Master of Diplomacy like Lord PALMERSTON could
have dealt, with the anxieties of Portugal, with the
Swiss difficulty, with the stupendous revolutionary
hurricanes that swept over Europe in 1818, with the
complicated imbroglio of the following year with the
Spanish Government, with the Greek Question in all
its entanglement, with the Hungarian-war embar-
rassment, and what not besides—Lord PALMERSTON
became a mark for all the suspicions, distrusts, and
consequent insinuations of the principal among the
tyrannical courts of the European continent ; how
he became the target also at home, here iu
England, for the hostilities of an implacable
coalition of personal and political antagonists—until,
at length, a formal motion for the iinpreachment of
his whole policy was proposed and was carried in the
House of Lords ! No doubt the House of Commons,
when appealed to, rejected that same motion for im-
peachment. No doubt Lord PALMERSTON delive:-ed,
then and there, during that debate, the one great
~peech of his life. No doubt Sir ROBERT PEEL
magnanimously exclaimed in his regard, " We are
all proud of him !" and the Reuse rang with cheers,
and Lord PALMERSTON'S fair fame fur the time being
was triumphantly vindicated. But—on the 2lth of
December, 1851, twenty-two days after the coup cre'tat
of the future Emperor, NAPOLEON 111., Lord PALMER-
STON was summarily dismissed from the Secretaryship
of State for Foreign Affairs, never again to resume
power at the centre of our diplomatic system in his
capacity as our English TALLEYRAND. Later on, of
course, he was magnificently avenged, when the
Prime Minister by whom he had been dismissed, thus
summarily, himself took office under his (Lord
PeeersesTosi's) own Premiership. He was avenged,
too, in finding thepas of precedeuce accorded to him,
as it were, by acclamation, by all the great, rival parties.
in the Lords, and in the Commons, and iu the coun-
try and by all the other leading statesmen of the age—
the Premiership, in a manner being accorded to him-
self, so to speak, for life, in point of fact, ending, as it
did, only with the natural termination of his own exist-
ence. Through all the stormy anxieties of his political
career—it is only justice to the memory of the great
lady recently deceased that we should remember—
he was iu a very great measure, he was certainly iu
a very appreciable measure, sustained and heartened
by the sympathetic and active co-operation of the
partner of his life, the clever, graceful, charming,
loved and honoured EMILY MARY, Viscountess PAL-
MERSTON.

WITHIN a very recent period two of our royal
princes have been visiting American waters. The
whole American continent separated them, and they
had reached their destination by opposite routes, the
one having journeyed to the Pacific by the eastern
seas, the other having reached British America by
the Atlantic. Queen VICTORIA'S sons bid fair to be
the best travelled men in the world. Some one of
them is always on the wing. As travel is a very
good, though a very costly means of education, this
love of locomotion on the part of those who can
afford to gratify their inclination is a matter
of satisfaction. The younger of the two princes
appears to have conducted himself with much good
sense and discretion, and our American fellow-sub-
jects have been quite enthusiastic about the lad.
Prince ARTHUR'S brother has also been the hero of
what is called an a ovation "at Honolulu. We read
of assemblies and dances, and of a shower of bouquets
nearly overwhelming the Duke of EDINBURGH as he
took his departure. Unfortunately, a telegram
bringing later information speaks of a less satis-
factory visit to Tahiti. That island is virtually
a French colony, and the telegram states
that Lis Royal Highness treated the French
officers with such discourtesy as to arouse general

indignation. It was but a few weeks before this
that some rather strongly worded complaints reached
s from the Antipodes. During his visit there,
eighteen months ago, the DUKE was idolised to a
degree amazing to us, with whom royalty is no
novelty. Ilis narrow escape from assassination
made this enthusiasm burn still higher, and the
flame was nourished by the liberal presents which
his Royal Highness bestowed on his guests. The
information that these presents were charged in
our estimates, and that the DeTKr. had been n_crely
liberal with the money of the British taxpayer,
somewhat damped the colonial ardour. A more
serious matter was the conduct of the Prince towards
the Maories. We need scarcely remind our readers
of the feud which exists between a portion of that
race and the English colonists, nor point out how
important it is that advantage should be taken of
every opportunity which offers to improve the Fels-
tion4 between the two ram, Neve#heleos, when

►'YEtINESDAY EVENING, SEP f ; IIIBER 15, 1869

certain friendly Maori chiefs had an interview with
the DUKE, he quickly grew impatient of their long
harangues, and dismissed them with speeches cut
short, and with tempers anything but placid. Thus a
golden opportunity was lost of establishing a friendly
feeling between the Maories and the English. How
sorely every such opportunity needed to be used may
be gathered from the last news that has reached us
from New Zealand. The rebellion has, it is said,
become more formidable than ever, and the utmost

• -
alarm prevails.
We make these remarks, not in order to find
fault, but in order to depre2,ate the repetition of
this sort of blunder in a country where it would be
most disastrous. At the close of the present year
the Duke of EDINBURGH is to make a tour of India.
Great preparations are being carried out for his
reception. At the same time no little apprehension
is felt in official circles as to the result of this visit.
At present, so far as Anglo-Indians are informed,
the DUKE'S sole idea is tiger-hunting. This is a
fine, noble sport, doubtless, and infinitely superior
to the pigeon-shooting which is now the fashionable
amusement of our aristocracy at home. But the
DUKE is not a private person ; he is the
representative of the QUEEN—the " Empress
of India "—and as such his mother's subjects will
expect him to take a royal part in State ceremonials.
The native Indians are fond of these ceremonials to
a degree that is most wearisome to the English
mind, and it is feared that the DUKE'S patience, which
could not bear the slight strain of Maori eloquence,
will fail more completely under the more severe trial
of Indian durbars. Most unfortunately the Indian
mind just now is very unfavourably disposed towards
the highest class in England. Some young noblemen
have lately visited India and brought discredit upon the
English name. We'all know. what a dreadful crea-
ture the English snob is, and how, though odious
beyond bearing in his own country, he is infinitely
worse when he crosses the twenty miles of sea that
lie between England and France. He is incur-
ably and radically bad. Moreover there are snobs
of all nations, although the Anglo-Saxon snob,
whether here or in America, is the most insufferable.
But we do not expect to find him among the Upper
Tan Thousand. We expect that our patricians, what-
ever faults they may have, will at least be gentlemen.
And that expectation is very rarely deceived. In
India, however, certain young men of high rank
have of late not only "burst all links of habit," but
laid aside the garments of decency. The result has
been most deplorable. The Indians, believing that
these are courtiers, the chosen companions of royalty,
have made the remark "if these are so wicked the
QUEEN must be more wicked." It is impoisible for any
loyal subject of our good and virtuous sovereign not
to feel the deepest indignation at those who have thus
brought reproach on the royal name. It is now for the
QUEEN'S son to remove this reproach. If he will
only remember that he is a royal prince as well as a
good shot, he may re-establish VICTORIA in the
powerful native imagination as the best of sove-
reigns. If he will not do this; if he will skew to
the quick-sighted Indians—and no race are quicker
of sight than they—that he is bent only upon his
own pleasure, he had much better leave India
unvisited.

1769 was a remarkable year. It saw the birth of

the steam engine, of the first NAPOLEON, and
of ALEXANDER HUMBOLDT. The first event was
noticed at the British Association by the PRESIDENT,
the second has been recently commemorated in
France, the third was the occasion of high festival
in Germany yesterday. FRIEDERICII HElNnicil
kLEXANDER BARON VON HUMBOLDT was born at
Berlin, September 14, in the above-mentioned year,
and was son of the Chamberlain to the Kink FREDF-
nicic of Prussia, called by some men the Great, and
worshipped by Mr. CARLYLE. There was another son,
\VILIIELM by name, two years the senior of ALEX-
ANDER, and who would have been a great man had
not his fame been dwarfed and overshadowed by
that of his illustrious junior. During his university
career ALEXANDER sheaved that love of science which
was to make him the prince of savans. He made
scientific tours through Belgium, Holland, France,
and England, and he pUblished his first work when

. .
lie was 24 years old. Having studied at the School
of Mines—Prussia was a century before England in
that respect—he was appointed to an office in the
mining department. But the love of travel was so
strong in him that he threw up his appointment. He
spent a short time with GoETHE and SCHILLER at
Jena; then some time with the Paris savans; and
at last obtained'his long-cherished desire—permis-
sion from the Spanish Government to visit all the
Spanish settlements in America and the Indian
Ocean. Ile had long yearned to see nature in her
wildest, grandest, and most luxuriant character ; long
sighed for the tropics with their tropical vegetation,
huge rivers, and burning mountains. He sailed from
Corunna, ascended the Peak of Teneriffe, and dis-
embarked at Curnana, in South America. Five years
he spent in exploring Central America, then under
the Spanish yoke. He was not a mere
traveller. He was not even merely a recorder of
physical phenomena. He had a mind to arrange as
well as an eye to discern. He not only made most
careful observations, but he reduced them to system.
They were the elements out of which he may almost
be said to have created a new world. With ordinary
men this great accumulation of facts, filling twenty-
nine volumes, would have been a chaos; out of them
HUMBOLDT educed " Kosmos." After a short visit
to the United States he returned to Europe and
took up his abode in Paris in order to publish his
works; the disturbed state of his own country for-
bade the publication of them there. After being
employed on diplomatic service for a time, he
returned to Prussia, and in the winter of 1827-28
delivered those famous lectures which were after-
wards republished in the volume that has immor-
talised his name—" Kosmos." In 1829 he again
became a traveller, and, though CO years of age,
explored the inhospitable Ural Mountains, the
Caspian Sea, and part of China. This expedition
led to many discoveries respecting the earth's mag-
netism, and it was at his suggestion that magnetic
and meteorological stations were established from
St. Petersburg to Pekin, and also in the Southern
hemisphere. His labours were not confined to any
one department, of science. He • was geologist,
botanist, anatomist; astronomer; nieteorologist.- The
whole realm of Nature was his province. It was for
this reason that he was so great. It is comparatively
easy to attain celebrity in any one or two branches
of science, but the man who does merely this must
be somewhat narrow, cannot have the grand views li
that HUMBOLDT had, cannot have formed the same
comprehensive view of Nature that he formed.

Nor was he concerned only with the physical
world. We have already mentioned that he was
employed on diplomatic service during the great war.
his assistance was again asked by his Sovereign in
1830 when Prussia recognised the revolution of the
Three Days. Subsequently he accompanied the King
in his journeys to England and Denmark. The latter
portion of TIU-MBOLDT'S long life was spent at Berlin,
the city of his birth. Some idea of his activity, and
of the esteem in which ho was held, may be gathered
from the fact that he used to receive 100,000 letters
a year. He died at last, in 1859, at the good old age
of 90, full of vigour, and honoured as no other
German had been since GOETHE. Already Germany is
commemorating him. There is no tardiness in
this case, although there are few men whose fame
would better stand the test of delay than ALEXANDER
VON HUMBOLDT.