The Sun.
London, England, 1850-07-10 00:00:00

SIR ROBERT PEEL,

Yesterday afternoon the mortal remains of Sir
Robert. Peel were deposited in their last long resting-
place. The honours of a public funeral, and of
having one's ashes mingled Kith those of the mighty
dead in Westminster Abbey, have long been regarded
as appropriate tributes to depsrted genius and pa-
triotism They formed the glorious alternative antici-
pated by Nelson when about to fight one of his most
memorable battles. The country has, heretofore,
almost claimed -ter herself the privilege of interring
those children who have served her best, and of whom
she feels most prowl. The friends of Sir Robert
Peel, however, at his own express desir, de-
clined this honour. Nor, when the account of hie
funeral has been read to its close, do we think the
wisdom or propriety of the course thus taken by
him will be questioned. Grief can only be made
imposing by its sincerity, and humility is the
most becoming accompaniment of death. The
unostentatious obstquies of a country gentleman
gathered to his fathers amidst the regret and lamen-
tation of his friends, neighbours, and dependents,
were all that Sir Robert Peel desired, and his wish
has been sacredly complied with. In the quiet parish
church of Drayton Bassett, where his father and
mother were buried before him, the remains of the
great statesman have been deposited. He has been
followed to the tomb by a few chosen friends,
whose names and reputation give to the ceremonial
of his interment some what of a public character, hut
the mournful preparations and the funeral pomp did
not exceed those limits appropriate to the deceased
in his private station, and in the proceedings there
was no splendid pageantry of woe; everything was
plain and simple, befitting the obsequies of a large
landed proprietor, but nothing more. had a
foreigner been present on the occasion, it must have
struck him as singular to see a great statesman
consigned to the dust by the members of his family
and a dozen private friends, with no more magnifi-
cent array of company on the occasion than what
Tamworth and the rural districts around it
could supply. The sorrowing crowd of simple-
minded rustics who yesterday lined the avenues along
which the funeral procession passed furnished, indeed,
one of the more remarkable features of the proceed-
ings. Taere they were assembled to see the great
man who had lived among them for so many years
carried out to his long home. Men, women, and
children, all decently clad, though many of them in
very homely attire, flocked towards the park several
hours before the time appointed for the funeral had
arrived. They came for the most part on foot, and
from every point of the compass. A large proportion
of them wore mourning, and their bearing and be-
haviour was exceedingly decorous and suitable to the
occasion. A body of the county police were present
t,o keep the main approach to the mansion clear for
the procession, so the people as they collected ar-
ranged themselves on either side of the avenue, within
the light iron railings which separate it from the
park. At intervals the melancholy sound of the
funeral ball from Tamworth Church fell upon the
ear; and, as if nature sympathised with the
occasion, the sky became overcast with sombre
cloud, and gusts of wind swept mournfully
through the trees. The Manor- house, which is an
extensive pile, surmounted by towers, and possessing
considerable claims to the architectural beauty, had
all the appearance of a house of sorrow. The win-
dows were all closed against the light, and at the
main entrance, which is situated within a sort of
court-yard formed by the projection of the picture-
gallery, were stationed, on either side of the door-
way, two mutes, who received the visitors as they
alighted. In an apartment adjoining the entrance,
and called the Oak Parlour, lay the coffin, covered
with crimson velvet, and bearing a plain inscrip'ion
of the name and age of the deceased. The hour
fixed fir the interment drew near, and the clock
in the main tower pointed to one o'clock, when
rain began to fall, at first in a slight drizzle,
but soon after very heavily. Few of the
spectators had prepared themselves for such a
contingency, but they stood it out bravely
nevertheless, obviously determined that the
weather should not prevent them from witnessing the
sad spectacle which they had come to see, or debar
them from manifesting their simple-hearted and un-
affected sympathy with the family of the deceased.
Thus they waited for nearly an hour, the rain de-
scending in torrents all the time, while the under-
taker's men clustered in greater numbers around the
entrance of the mansion, and the mourning coaches,
with their funeral appendages, were brought slowly
forward to receive their appointed inmates. Shortly
after two o'clock the sky began to clear, and with as
little delay as possible the funeral procession was
formed. The following programme gives the order
in which it was arranged, and from the details thus
furnished it will be seen how simple and unostenta-
tious was the ceremonial by which the body of Sir
Robert Peel was conveyed from the family mansion
to the grave :
ORDER OF PROCESSION.
Mr. Mark C:)ek.,,, Mr. Mathews (Steward),