The Sun.
London, England, 1869-10-25 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIO jOURNALd

-41...... - -..

The Times observes that in Lord Derby wo shall miss not
,nly the most'eminent member of our hereditary peerage'
)ut one of the most prominent actors on the political battle-
!laid. At a juncture when the Liberals are united under
the strongest Government since the days of Pitt, and the
fortunes of Conservatism are clouded with disaster, when
his support might have been of peculiar service to his
party, and his loss will be felt as a heavy blow, the fore-
most leader of our English patricians has passed beyond
the reach of human interests and passions. Lord Derby
was not a great man, but he was a man with noble quali-
ties of head and heart, which adorned his exalted station)
and which will shed a lustre on his memory now that ho
is gone. Long after his political errors have been con-
doned, it will be remembered that he was a good landlord.
a kind neighbour, a keen sportsman, and a finished scholar,
of the old classical school. Full justice was done to his
munificence during the Lancashire cotton famine, but the
value of his personal labour and superintendence in the
organisation of relief committees can hardly be estimated
too highly. Like so many of our Premiers, 'Walpole and
North, Pitt and Canning, Melbourne and Palmerston, be
possessed an unfailing flow of genial pleasantry in convey"
cation, and thoroughly understood how to cast off the cares
of State in the home circle. His death will not mark an
epoch in history, but it will leave a prodigious blank in
English society, and bring about no small amount of change
in the 'political world.

The Post says that although in the domain of politics
Lord Derby was habitually indiscreet, and naturally futon'
pera,te—although he provoked enmity, and condescended
to tricks and contrivances which were wholly incompatible
with the proud position which he occupied, and with the
high obligations which he was called upon to fulfil—he 123:
passed away honoured and respected by all who recognise'
his true character, his admirable social qualities, the good-
ness of his heart, and the kindness of his disposition. 111.°
are incapable of entertaining the feelings which eonld
suggest, or tolerate, the expression of political hostility ill
the presence of such an event ; and Lord Derby's opt*"
nents, as well as his friends and followers, will not fail t°
appreciate the loss which the country has sustained. _

The Herald declares that the news of the death of
Geoffrey, fourteenth Earl of Derby, will be received
throughout the length and breadth of England, not merelf
is the announcement of a loss which a great political part/
has sustained, but of a bereavement which has befallen
the whole nation at large. There have been men—great
men and great patriots—who have left a legacy of glory t°
their countrymen, but the splendour of whose achieveluelit°
ind the lustre of whose prestige have been dimmed and tar
nished by sinister memories. Not so with Lord Derby. 1:1°
has essentially been the statesman without fear and with-
out reproach. The glory of Bacon, the achievements 13
Clarendon, are not remembered without some alloy '3",
humility in the midst of the plenitude of pride. Or
taken Lord Derby may occasionally have been ; wilfuuy
or consciously mistaken he neter was. He rimy have eV*"
but the error was one of principle, not bias. He was 'Ole
to truth, because he was true to himself. llis was 3
patriotism as pure, perfect, noble, and disinterested $9
.
patriotism can be, and it is this patriotism which is I/13
monument.

In Edward Geoffrey, Earl of Derby, says the Vora,'"
the nation had still before its eyes, dazzling its daily gaze
in idea more perhaps than reality, a living representative
of those grands seigneurs of the ancient time, who wroegi'!,
to much to make the little island a power and a rattiest':
empire. If, like Coriolanus, he vainly protested agelas.
measures "which would in time break ope the locks of the
enato, and bring in the crows uo peck the eagles," Y°'
like Coriolanus, was he not ever plain, grand honourable'
fearless, and lordly, even in the haughtiness inherit"'
rrom his patrician order ? He was part of the very
le
tory of England, as it were—surviving, perhaps, a litt
b3yend his date and age, but on that account almost the
more minable. He was complete a 3 a polished gentle-
man and a model Lord. He had his "crack" '-
training, and his Homer under translation, while hg
was First Minister of the Crown, and engaged in Inek:,,7
peace, war, bishops, and bills. Men—above all, Engb
men—like a vivid, and capacious nature of this stamp;
had become ono whose age and infirmities we had f°.-
gotten—esteeming him a necessary part of to-day and 4.0
Morrow, as he had proved to be of yesterday. We, vi.o
opposed him with consistency, may also lay something 10
his tomb—namely, a Liberal garland of honour for
English Tory lord whose life made dignity dignified, ea
whose virtues were such as the people do well to admit
4'
being those of courage, real lordliness, and high breeding P.
manners, taste, words, and deeds.
The Standard remarks that in Lord Derby we saw the
embodiment of those qualities which distinguished t;
peerage cf England from aristocracies not less ancient 1,
iescent, not less proud of ancestral honours, not less P0we..,..-
nineteenths is'l
title to political leadership, still dear to the affections
the imagination of a practical pepple. In the last Pejo'
Heal struggle in which he bore a part Lanca'4liiiis
gave him her cordial and powerful support ; and the
the present generation of operatives lives, at least, a
tame of the fourteenth Earl of Derby will be rermen,be:
rvith reverence and affection throughout his native presq°o-e;
sot only as the orator, the scholar, the statesman, of wbar
Lancashire may well be proud, but as the Lancashire Oder
gate who, in her direst trial, took his place as the leaviho
,n the work of relief and charity ; as the rich Well yip
cared for the sorrows of the poor, and the great roprio-
respected the pride of the lowly; not as the Prime 3'l 000
ter of England, but as the kindly neighbour, the genet
friend, and the Christian gentleman. ted
The Daily News thinks that Lord Derby
940
some of the qualities which his countrymen most oto
His manly and intrepid bearing expressed a netroolf.
which fear was as strange as it was to Lord Nelson 11174,1
Re never quailed before a foe, and he never desert had,
friend. Even the mistakes of Lord Derby's career olce
their origin in qualties which everyone may admire'
the Hotspur of of Shakespeare, of whom he was rbe,P...egiag
cal counterpart, he was ready, at the risk of 0...,:a0r
his own fingers, to pluck from the nettle c'Peetio
the flower safety. The strength of his f
of personal fidelity to those who had ° de'r,,eient
good service was shown when on his refit -, of
hte",
from office, at some sacrifice, it cannot be don- a ItIP
paternal sentiment, ho strenuously recontraellac the
Disraeli as his successor in the Premier impersona
0.
Premiership, puttintot
claims of Lord Stanley in abeyance. His erect and el'oeser
bearing, his impulsive and vigorous yet flexible elti core
his relish for the manly sports of Englishmen, his to.-itiee
of literary taste and classical scholarship, were q ee,
which have a powerful attraction for his counrilta,t; has
(0
private life of stainless honour and generous affee'l rl •bete
reaped the reward of a domestic sorrow richer 0, t
he
than the universal regret which accompanies the fellso the
foremost man of his party and his order. "
noblest Roman of them all." „,triP
The Times thinks there are conclusive reasons to the
my further extension of the Royal raerefileastei's
Fenians at the present time, and Mr. 'coa ;
has done well in thus placing it on re tbi
emphatic terms. Indeed, the release ef
or garotter out of mere compassion or in eelio
with urgent petitions from his friends, would be cleft*.
mischievous than the release of Fenian leaders I,aheiriP
once to noisy demonstrations of sympathy on tie:ll'ooa ‘°,
The construction that would have been put in it not
mn Amnesty granted under such circumstaneesn vioeio
natter of doubt ; it is a matter of certainty'. 'lOOO9, ;61
cave been attributed, not to mercy, but to weakoa of 10 0,
?vould have paralysed most effectually the actiof cooo#
trishmen in caso of a future outbreak. ent
If justice or humanity required it, the GoTerthet t
have yielded, let the consequences have been.:,,,,a
might. But no plea of this kind could be 011_01`01peaierilij
moment; the whole question was a question .f..„_,,,„a
tnd upon this question popular opinion in -G4lAfter
heartily ratify Mr. Gladstone's determination. ;0100001,
‘lecisive announcement, made on behalf of the tivfo res Plot
upon full deliberation and under a deep sense _ hope that
bility, further agitation would be vain. Let 11' .es 011
Irish patriots will now concentrate their energl o 0
far more useful task of maturing their Prelroae,
land question for the consideration of the Gov 0
oppeo.p
The Daily Newsrefers to a complaint which 10j1i:ship0 140
ho. a contemporary relative to a certain class
°locution
are,
trio permitted to proceed upon voyages in a
,c Thereeraft
iecting every ono on board to an imminent o°7
collier for
fact, not only hundreds but thousands er_ that Alva
upon the Irish, English, and Welsh ceast:uraoce efroo
beyond the pale of consideration from an in oro,svi 400,
Lnd yet these floating coffins continue re until Poo
port to port, in their decrepid
time or other they are caught in
eaither drelo
break in pieces, while the crew are
ssei is its 1:000
or rescued by the lifeboats. A ve _ or 5 400
complaints from old ago as a hor_sa:o3,
:,ut coal ships now are not often built of tbee,,..10.0 tr,
Of late years, contractors have been maTthe 10101, of
:heady style which we find in vogue wit , bftlo,
fashion,
stow,
_doci
London mansions, and after the strain arle'rralY t
in v 10.4
'ew voyages the badly prepared timbeerhsah;
respecting their construction. The
.0 simply
which these cripples go into open water
~roetes, rot,
being able to run into shelter whendanbg.
cro"tila
ai :Yoe ill
and hence in weather that a stout the re
_0 so
pver, we have the lifeboats plunging
sserf that vir7. ofta,
whole swarms of tottering, invalided Adr ore
do not fetch the price of firewood, an
..0_11107;091.9 td1)"
worth removing from th? sands 91 G
left to rot.