The Sun.
London, England, 1868-10-29 00:00:00

DEATH OE LORD CURBIEHILL.

. _
Mr. John 111arsnall, who, as judge of the Scotch Uourb
of Session, bore the courtesy title of Lord Curriehill, and
who retired from the bench about a fortnight since, died
at Curriehill on Tuesday night. The Edinburgh Courant
of Wednesday says of him : " Lord Curriehill has not
long survived his retirement from the bench which he
so well adorned. Many el his friends had hoped that a
release from official duty might be the means of yielding
him a certain space of serene quiet and comparative ease.
But it was otherwise ordained. The malady which led to
his retirement had gained more strength than was sup-
posed, and on Wednesday night he peaceably breathed
his la3t. We have thus lost a lawyer of a very eminent
and peculiar kind. He came to the bar 50 years ago,
in the year 1818. From that time forward he was
distinguished as an honest, industrious, and intelligent
lawyer. No one ever found him deficient in the dis-
charge of his duty, or ill-prepared in the lesson that he
undertook. He was for some time Dean of Faculty, and
performed the duties of the office with propriety and
dignity. In 1852 he was raised to the bench, and it
zannot be doubted that thereby the country derived the
most signal benefit from his talent and experience, and in
particular from his acquaintance with all the most
important branches of the law of Scotland."

THE DEATH OF THE ARCHBISHOP OF
CANTERBURY.

The Guardian contains some accounts of the deathbed
of the deceased archbishop. His Grace was seized almost
suddenly with bronchitis on the 13th of September, while
on his way back from the Tyrol. He reached Addington
on the 16th, and was able, though with difficulty, to hold
his ordination in the parish church on the following
Sunday. Two or three times be rallied so much that
hopes were entertained that his robust constitution would
enable him to shake off the disease. On the evening of
Thursday week the unfavourable symptoms increased,
and from that time he was confined to his bed. His
mental powers remained uninjured, and he was
occupied unceasingly in reading devotional books, or
in writing or giving instructions concerning his charge,
which he had almost completed, though he had quite
given up the idea of delivering it orally. He anticipated
the end almost from the first, and in a paper written
three or four days ago, when speaking was become difficult
to him, he said, " I commit my soul into the hands of
my God and dear Saviour. I have bad proofs enough
of His love in the past, and I am well assured that
whatever sufferings or trials are permitted to
befall me are visitations of love. `Though He
slay me, yet will I trust in Him.' As to the faith
in which I wish to die; I cannot better express it than in
Richard Hooker's dying words, as indicated in the under-
lined passage I have written out. A poor and guilty
sinner I know myself to be ; but I believe that those who
kneel at the feet of the Cross with this sincere confession
will never be cast out if they look to the cleansing blood
of Christ for their sole ground of pardon and acceptanee.”
The following is the extract from Hooker :—" i'hough
I have by His grace loved Him in youth, and
feared Him in mine age, and labou:ed to have a con-
science void of offence to Him and to all men ; yet if
Thou, 0 Lord, be extrer:A to mark what I have done
amiss, who can abide, it? And therefore, where I have
failed, Lord, stew mercy to me ; for I plead, not my
righteousness, but the forgiveness of my own unrighteous-
ness, for His merits who died to purchase pardon for
penitent sinners. And since I owe Thee a death, 0 Lord,
let it not be terrible, and then take thine own time. Let
not mine, 0 Lord, but thy will be done." On Sunday his
Grace appeared decidedly better, but on Monday afternoon
the disease changed for the worse, and from that time
he sank rapidly. He received the Holy Communion
about midday on Tuesday, making all the responses with
a cheerful and happy face. His last intelligible words
were those of the " Gloria in Excelsis." But his looks and
gestures proved how eagerly he joined in the prayers and
ejaculations which were said with him during the day, and
never was there seen a more beautiful peace than that of
his last hour. About six he became unconscious. The
members of his family, with his medical attendant, Dr.
Carpenter, and Mr. Benham, the vicar of Addington,
were with him to the last ; and he died, in the middle of
the words of commendation, so quietly that the last
moment was not perceptible.

THE BANQUET TO LORD NAPIER OF
MAGDALA.

The people of Portsmouth were determined to pay
their respects to and shew their admiration of the
conqueror of Theodore. Hardly bad he come back from
Abyssinia when they invited him to a banquet. For the
time he declined it ; but on his road out to India, rid
Portsmouth, he allowed the inhabitants of the port to do
him honour. At the banquet a great deal was said about
his heroism and his virtues. In responding to the toast of
his health, proposed, it is stated, amidst defeaniug cheers,
he said : " I cannot sufficiently express my feelings
of gratitude for the kind and cordial way in which
you have received the health which has just been
proposed to you. It is no ill compliment to you to say
that I accepted the invitation to be present here to-night
with some reluctance, because I felt that having been
so graciously rewarded by her Majesty, and so gene-
rously welcomed in many parts of England, I was receiv-
ing an undue share of the gratitude of this country.
I would willingly have deprived myself of the pleasure of
receiving your welcome if I could have forgotten the
kind manner in which the invitation was conveyed to me ;
but it was the remembrance of the cordial terms used in
the invitation, coupled with the fact that Portsmouth
cannot be looked upon as a merely civil community, but
that it is essentially a naval and military community,
that induced me to accept your hospitality. I fee]
that it is also a very graceful addition to your welcome
that you have invited here to-night so many distinguished
members of the defensive services of this country, as well
as many eminent gentlemen belonging to the county ; and
that there are also near me many of the comrades to
whom belongs so great a share of the success of our Abys-
sinian expedition. I am proud, indeed, to have this
welcome shared by my gallant friends Colonel Twiss and
Colonel Penn, whose ' steel pens' did such excellent
services. I also see Colonel Cooper, whose gallant regi-
ment, the 33rd, will ever do justice to the character of
English soldiers. You have also invited to share your
hospitality the medical officers of the 33rd, who represent
an admirable and faithful body of men. I should have
been very glad if circumstances had permitted one more
branch to be represented—namely, the clergy of the
expedition, and I am ashamed to say that branch has not
been mentioned before. It is true they had not to
solace many death-beds, because we had not many,
but those to whom the duty fell accompanied
the regiments to the front, and those who were in the
rear took care to prepare and sanctify the last resting.
place of those who fell victims to the climate of the coun-
try. I make these remarks in order to repair previous
omissions on this subject. My acquaintance with England
has hitherto been very slight indeed, my visits having
been only short and transient. During the present visit,
however, I have had an opportunity of seeing more than
I did before ; and as regards one class of the community I
have learnt much—l mean the industrial and labouring
classes. What I have witnessed has given me the
greatest respect for those men who have to earn their
living by labour. The independence, uprightness,
and good conduct of so many of them cannot fail to
awaken feelings of the highest interest. It has been
observed, and I am sure with much truth, that our soldiers
have been greatly improving during the years which many
of us can remember, certainly during those which I
remember. Now, I can trace the source of that improve.
ment to the fact that the class from which our soldiers
principally come have also improved. I have visited some
homes in different parts of England—humble homes, too—
and I find in the humblest the history of the country and
its daily transactions are well known. The modest Scotch
matron and the Welsh and English countrywomen know
what is going on, and can speak of what has recently
happened. I found wherever I went that men and women
knew all about the Abyssinian expedition, and nothing
has endeared my country to me meosreofthaannEthneghlieslairut,yonzll:
of the hand hardened by
ocormexepgrleasnsecdedinfrom
stthreenbgriggrhast
pey-
toil. The state of Europe and the affairs of our country
have given many people thoughts of anxiety, but I must
say, when I see such skill and energy directed to the
improvement of all arms of offence and defence, when I
see the immense power displayed in the manufacture of
iron ships, when I see the perseverance, determination,
and powerful will of the British people, I am led to declare
that I think nothing can happen which need cause us fear.
The community which has done me the honour to welcome
me here is one essentially connected with war. Scarcely
an expedition leaves the shores of England which Ports-
mouth has not had to equip, and while the union between
the army and navy and our civil countrymen is so strong,
the country at large has nothing to fear."
Lord Napier also responded on behalf the House of
Lords, He described himself as " the last recruit "to the
Upper Chamber of the Legislature, and though his expe-
rience of its members had been short, yet he had seen
sufficient to snake him think that the country might rely
upon the peers to do that which they believed best fur its
interests.

The rectory of Clifton Campville, near Tam-
worth, vacant by the resignation of the Rev. H. J. Pye,
who has joined the commttlion of the Church of Rome,
has been conferred upon the Rev. Thomas Samuel Fraser
Rawlins, M.A., of Worcester College, Oxford, vicar of
Denchworth, Berkshire. Mr. Rawlins was curate of the
parish.