The Sun.
London, England, 1867-10-02 00:00:00

SIR FREDERICK BRUCE.

The sudden death of Sir FREDERICK BRUCE, her
MAJESTY'S Minister at Washington, has caused a
very general feeling of regret. Sir FREDERICK was
popular ; but though a finer and handsomer-looking
man he was not so genial as his brother, the late
Earl of ELGIN. It was generally acknowledged
that Sir FREDERICK excelled the chief of his house
in diplomatic skill, and this was fully recognised by
Lord ELGIN himself, who had no small opinion of
his own capacity. The last post Sir FREDERICK
filled is now allowed to be the most important
diplomatic position to which an English Ambassador
can be accredited. Time works great changes in
the relative importance of elevated trusts. Once
the Lord-Lieutenantcy of Ireland was the most
dignified, and not long since the Paris Embassy
was the field for an aspiring diplomatist. Now the
Lord-Lieutenancy is little better than a sinecure,
kept up to gratify the vanity and to encourage the
shopkeepers of the Irish metropolis. The Ambas-
sador at Paris might be prompted in his interviews
by the Secretary of Foreign Affairs from Downing-
street, the telegraph almost whispering in his ear the
words the Ministry desired to speak, and he is thus
relieved from a heavy weight of responsibility. Her
MAJESTY'S representative in India aspires to little
short of the dignity of a monarch, and on the
shoulders of the Ambassador at Washington may
rest a responsibility which might fairly deter the most
self-reliant from undertaking its duties. Judg-
ing of Sir FREDERICK by what we saw in China, we
would say he was not a studious man ; yet, what-
ever his inclinations, he seems to have applied most
indefatigably, thoroughly to understand the constitu-
tion of the country to which he was accredited, study-
ing both the parties and men who ruled. He was suc-
cessful in gaining Mr. SEWARD as a personal friend,
and in maintaining the confidence and goodwill of
the PRESIDENT. This made him of real use in
handling the intricate and delicate questions which
descended to him from his predecessor, Lord LYONS.
Indeed, Sir FREDERICK was at once transferred
from a post where he had little to do, and bad
been totally severed from all the great questions
which agitate Christendom to one that above all
others called for most tact, knowledge, and good
sense. When at Peking the duties of the late Am-
bassador did not call for that careful attention so
necessary at Washington. He lived in a Yamaun,
which had formerly been the palace of a brother of
the EMPEROR, and which under his care revived
from a ruin, into more than its pristine taste and
beauty. It was overshadowed by the great wall
which separated the Tartar from the Chinese city.
Its gate opened on the broad banks of what had
once been a marble-bedded canal conducting a
stream, long since dried up, to the palace of the
EMPEROR, which stood close to his dwelling. It
was in this Yamaun that Sir FREDERICK re-
ceived so genially, and entertained so hospitably,
the officers and others who took the opportunity
to visit Peking. Each night his dinner table pre-
sented the appearance of a mess, though sometimes
graced by ladies. A few came from Tientsin, but
there were two who, like Sir FREDERICK himself,
were residents of the great Tartar city. One was
the wife of the Russian Ambassador, Madame
Balusac, who, young, delicate, and beautiful
as she was, had ridden with her husband
through the wilds of Asia, passing over this
vast continent in male attire. The other was
a lady in whose society the late Sir FREDERICK
found a'peculiar charm, Madame de BOURBILLON,
wife of the French Ambassador, a Scot by birth,
an American by training, a French woman by mar-
riage, manners, and habit—she combined the traits
of the three great nations, being Scotch to her coun-
trymen, American to the Yankee, and French to
the Gaul. But this talented and well-known lady
and her Russian friend did not comprise all the
European women in Peking, who were such an un-
tiring marvel to the Chinese. Over Sir FREDERICK'S
establishment a housekeeper presided, who ruled
there as absolutely as the Brother of the Moon at
the neighbouring Yuen.ming-Yuen. This faithful
old servant had administered to Sir FREDERICK'S
wants when he was a puling baby, and, in her
mind, the man remained associated with the
child. " Lord ELGIN," • she observed, " was like
his Pa, but Sir FREDERICK like his Ma"—an
observation which conveyed a more exalted idea
of the beauty cf the family into which the de-
scendant of the great BRUCE bad married than
that of the great BRUCE'S descendants. Lord
ELGIN, Viceroy of India, died at Dhrumsala, a hill
station of the Himalayah, in the autumn of 1863,
after a long and arduous career in the service of his
Sovereign, ending in harness a life of toil, after at-
taining to the highest post the QUEEN can bestow.
His brother, General BRUCE, shortly afterwards
ended his career while in attendance upon the Prince
of WALES, and but four years have passed away
when the third brother of this old and historic family
has Oen removed in the midst of his official duties.
Not long since the American papers announced that
Mr. SEWARD had extended to Sir FREDERICK a press•
ing invitation to accompany him to Auburn. He
appears to have proceeded to Boston after his visit
to the Secretary of State, and there to have con-
tracted the fatal and painful malady of which he
died. The body of Sir Frederick is being conveyed
to England in the China, which may be expected
Immediately.—Anglo-American 2 inks.