The Sun.
London, England, 1866-02-23 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

~ ---

TIMES—The last and greatest honour which the
nation can pay to a subject was yesterday con-
ferred on- the memory of Lord Palmerston. A
monument in Westminster Abbey, proposed by the
Government of the day, and sanctioned by a una-
nimous Address from the House of Commons to
the Crown—such is the highest as it must be the
final reward of public merit. It is one that has
rarely been attained by services, however illustrious,
in time of peace. Nelson, on the eve of Trafalgar,
might look forward without presumption to " Vic-
tory or Westminster Abbey ;" and Wellington,
though less prone to the last infirmity of noble
minds, must have foreseen that his own remains
would be consigned to no meaner resting-place.
But, as Mr. Gladstone remarked last night, the
posthumous homage which has been so freely ren-
dered to military and naval officers has been spar-
ingly awarded to statesmen. Four only within
the last century have received the crowning mark of
their countrymen's gratitude, and of these four
only one belongs to our own times. Chatham, Pitt,
and Perceval are names of the past, and the only
recent precedent for the erection of a monument by
the State to a civilian is that of Sir Robert Peel, to
whom Lord Palmerston was so long opposed, but
who, in the last speech he ever delivered, anticipated
in memorable language the verdict which has just
been ratified by Parliament. In comparing the
late Prime Minister with the greatest of his pre-
decessors Mr. Gladstone justly dwelt on his un-
rivalled popularity during his lifetime. It has been
said bitterly of us as a nation, that "we love to
deck the tombstone, yet will not crown the brow,"
and it must be confessed that many a public
benefactor has died among us unrecognised and
unrequited. This, however, is not so much the
result of popular ingratitude, as the inevitable
condition of political life in an age and
country like our own. The capricious favours
of Princes, when they chance to light on
a deserving object, contrast favourably with the
tardy appreciation of genius or worth by a great
people. Those who would have quick returns for
their labour and carelittle for posthumous fame, may
perhaps fare better under a system of patronage
than under a system of competition. The race is so
long, the course is so crowded, the rivalry is so im-
petuous in all the careers open to a young English-
man, and especially in that of politics, that few can
hope to win the laurel, or even to reach the goal.
Those, however, who, thus gifted, live to an ad-
vanced age without surviving their faculties seldom
fail to realise the full satisfaction of a noble ambi-
tion. Such at all events was Lord Palmerston's lot;
and if he enjoyed contemporary applause in a higher
degree than any who had gone before him, he was
still more conspicuously happy in the circumstances
and " opportuneness of his death." Chatham was
no longer the Great Commoner when he sunk in the
attempt to denounce concession to America ; Pitt
died under a dismal sense of the ruin impending
over his country ; Perceval was struck down by the
band of an assassin ; Peel was cut off prematurely
by accident when he had still before him a great
and useful political career; Lord Palmerston alone
lived to play out with triumphant success that part
which from his earliest youth he had destined for
himself, and the dignity of which he had described
with so much eloquence in the greatest of his
speeches, The most durable features of his policy,
and the finer qualities of his character, were treated
with much felicity by Mr. Gladstone. If he had a
passion, it was for constitutional liberty, and his
faith in it remained unshaken alike by reactionary
and revolutionary attacks upon it. This was the
real keystone of his foreign policy, and gave to it
an unity which history will more and more pro-
minently develope. Nor was this confidence in
constitutional forms a mere prejudice ; it rested
on a deep and a solid basis of conviction. It
has often been said, but it deserves to be repeated,
that Lord Palmerston was among the first to un-
derstand the meaning and force of public opinion.
" Public Opinion" is now almost a cant phrase, em-
ployed by thousands, who attach no very definite
idea to it; but it was another thing to talk of Public
Opinion in 1829, and Lord Palmerston spoke of it
in a manner which showed that he knew its full
significance. The well-known passage in his speech
of June 1 in that year, on the affairs of Portugal,
-where he expands into a practical maxim Pascal's
saying about the relation of opinion to force, has
all the freshness of a new truth clearly conceived
and forcibly stated. His persevering and successful
efforts to put down the slave trade exhibit his fidelity
to a principle which many derided as a mere senti-
ment, but which he saw to be pregnant with the
destinies of a whole race. Mr. Gladstone acted
wisely in selecting these as proofs of a higher states-
manship and more independent mind than has of ten
been attributed to him, and the testimony of so great
an orator to Lord Palmerston's rare perspicacity in
speaking has a special value of its own. The secret
of this power, in Mr. Gladstone's opinion, was the
habit of weighing his words in the act of delivery,
carrying on the two processes of thought and ex-
pression at the same time and in perfect harmony.
But, after all, neither statesmanship nor skill in
debate was the chief source of his marvellous popu-
larity. The never-failing industry which, combined
with a native gaiety of spirits, bore him up through
an apprenticeship of 20 years in the War-office, and
enabled him at 70 to master the duties of a Parlia-
mentary leader—the indomitable courage which, as
Mr. Gladstone testifies, seemed to fortify his physi-
cal constitution rather than to spring from it—the
good humour which, as Mr. Disraeli gracefully ad-
mitted, gained him so many friends, and made him
the most placable of enemies—these are the charac-
teristics by which he will be remembered. When Lord
Derby said the other day that Lord Palmerston
would never have deserted Governor Eyre, he
offered a deserved, though misapplied, tribute to the
proverbial loyalty of the late Premier towards his
subordinates. It is virtues like these which earn
and merit esteem and affection during life, and it
is virtues like these which, if they cannot bias the
judgment of posterity, entitle their possessor to
" charitable speeches" from the least partial of
survivors.

POST.—Once again her Majesty has been placed
under the necessity of applying to Parliament to
make special provision for her children, and again
Parliament has responded willingly to the appeal.
The first occasion was on the marriage of the Prin-
cess Royal to the Crown Prince of Prussia, the
second ,on the attainment of his majority by the
Prince of Wales, and the third on the marriage of
the Princess Alice to Prince Louis of Hesse. In
the present instance her Majesty makes a twofold
demand. The Princess Helena is betrothed to Prince
Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Augustenburg, and
some provision will consequently be needed for the
maintenance of their establishment ; and Prince
Alfred, the Queen's second son, having attained his
majority,. has, according to established custom, be-
come entitled to claim a special pension from Par-
liament for his support. The jealousy with which
the House of Commons has always retained the
command of the national purse-strings, and the
anxiety with which the people of this country have
guarded against the possibility of their Sovereigns
becoming so wealthy as to be independent of Parlia-
mentary control, have rendered applications similar
to those made last evening indispensable on all
occasions when the children of the Sovereign enter
on an independent position in life. The civil list
at present amounts to £470,000 ; but, large as this
sum may appear, it is a curious fact that it bears a
much smaller proportion to the total annual expen-
diture than the civil list of any other country in the
world. In the reign of George IL the civil list
amounted to £BOO,OOO ; and in the year of the
reign of George 111. it exceeded £1,000,000. Im-
mediately after her present Majesty's accession
it was fixed at £385,000, but, owing to subsequent
modifications, necessitated by her Majesty's
marriage with the late Prince Consort, it was in-
creased to its present amount. The principle on
which the civil list has been apportioned and granted
in late years has been that the money thus bestowed
shall be simply sufficient to enable the Sovereign to
maintain her royal rank with suitable splendour and
dignity. This principle_ obviously excludes the pre-
sumption that any provision will, or indeed can, be
made by the Queen for her children after they quit
their paternal home, and by implication acknow-
ledges the duty of Parliament to furnish them with
the means of support. The proposals made by the
Chancellor of the Exchequer to the House of Com-
mons, it must be confessed, were reasonable in their
nature. If it be admitted that it is the duty of the
nation to provide for the royal princes and princesses,
it is unnecessary to add that the provision made
should be suitable to the social position they are
compelled to fill. In respect to the Princess Helena,
the Government have asked Parliament to adopt a
course similar to that which was taken on the occa-
sion of the marriage of the Princess Alice. The
House of Commons then voted an annuity of £6,000,
with a dowry of £30,000, to that princess ; and as
the circumstances under which the Princess Helena
marries are nearly identical, the same subsidy has
been asked of Parliament. As regards Prince Alfred
no precedent, as the Chancellor of the Exchequer
pointed out, exists (at least in the present reign) for
the guidance of the Ministry, and the Government
have consequently been obliged to estimate what, in
their opinion, would prove a suitable appanage for
that prince. It was accordingly proposed that an
annuity of £15,000 should be granted to him, sub-
ject, however, to modification by the occurrence of
possible contingencies. If, for example, his royal
highness should marry, the Government intimated
that it might become necessary to make a further
application to Parliament, whereas in the event of
his becoming the Sovereign of a foreign State (an
event far from improbable) the grant would pro-