The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1873-05-30
John Stuart MiIl-Characf erisfics and
Incidents of His last Hours.

the Land Tenure meeting in Exeter Hall
and he never spoke with greater power-he
seemed eager to return to AyignOn; for he
had for some time been turning his botanical
studies to the practical work of writing some
account of the fora about Ayignon. and
wished to be there to meet the spring flowers
when they should return. They will bloom
above the dust Of their lover. What be has
written of them will remain fragment, but
one which Will remind his countrymen again
how various was the ability Of the man they
have lost. Few besides his intimate friends
know that this eminent and Woodworking
political and philosophical thinker was, be
sides being an adept in botany. a connoisseur
in music, and. from the time that he predict
ed to an incredulouS world the future fame
OF Tennyson, one Of the finest students OF
poetry in the world Avignon had become
to him the home of his soul.
1t has been my good fortune to know Mr.
Mill personally, and every time lave left
him it has been with an increased sense OF
the immense range Of his studies, his capacity
for acquiring knowledge, and of reducing
what he bad learned into learning. His
ability in this respect led him to think that
the question whether youths should be cdll-
Gated in the classics Or in science was no
question mt all. Educate them IN both and
all" was the reply. He could sec no reason
why the boy might not learn Latin. Greek
(perlaps Sanscrit,) French, German, Italian,
and all the Sciences-some one of them thor
oughly-without serious trouble. An opinion
not unnatural in a man who. before sitting
down to write review OF GrUtc's Plato, pre-
pared himself by reading Plato through in
the original. My belief is that his average
of dali; work was, for the greater part OF
his life, sixteen hours day; | know il has
been that since have been acquainted with
him. 1t was by this means that he was able
to read everything written in his time which
was worth reading, even to the good novels.
You might imagine, when some small subject
was introduced, that you had special know
ledge of it; or when some lttlc-known book
was alluded to, that you could give him
some information about it: and such was the
mans bonhonqe, that he might unconscious
" encourage your belief by his attentivcneS>
and interest; but it was sure to appear. in
the end. that he had long been familiar with
the matter, and after long acquaintance you
would recognize the fact that he was Il sort
surprise. the CONSERVATION. OF Mr.. Lowe.
when he was SO terribly foored on Il certain
OCCASION in the House of Commons. On
some small question affecting financial and
practical policy Mr.. Mill had briefly init
mated his opinion, and Mr.. Lowe, thinking
Mr.. Mill knew nothing about such matters,
passed his opinion by with some chat about
philosophers being above these things,
whereupon Mr.. Mill arose, went into the
matter, and proved, in ten minutes, that he
4, 3D., 81, g,
Lowe. When he sat down the House ap-
plauded, and Lowe, bewildered by the
sweeping away Of his notions and mistakes,
gained n knowledge of the thin little man
below the ganSway which was useful TO him
afterward. 1t was, ! suspect, this encounter
which won Mr.. Gladstone, whom | saw
aiterward shaking hands with the new men,
Der from Westminster very heartily. Glad
stone was devoted to him while he was in
Parliament, and should not have been sur
priSed, had Mill been reelected, if he had
been taken into the cabinet when Bright left
it. Mill was Il man he could always count
ON when liberal measure was brought for
ward by the Government. Though to re-
main in the House after midnight involved
Il disagreeable and expensive journey to
Blackheath, perhaps in rain or fog, Mill
would remain, night after night, to the small
hours of morning. Henever missed sitting
of the Parliament Of which he was mem
Der. This dtyotcdnes> to his parliamentary
duties threatened his health, for he had in
berited weak lungs from his father and his
lungs had years before given him trouble !;
but still lie stood at his post. He was GER
lainly glad to be relieved, and when Smith
was chosen in bis place, he smiled, while
others fairly wcpt at his defeat. Mr.. L. y.
Taylor was anxious TO give up his own seat
for Leicester, in order that the borough
might elect Mr.. Mill, but the latter would
not sanction this or any other projects for
his return, and convinced his friends that he
could TO better service to every good cause
by working in his old way.
1t is not true, as it Is somewhat the fash
ion of public writers to assume, that Mrs.
Mill did not deserve the warm public tcsti-
monias OF her husband to her worth. Mr..
Mill himself informed me that it was chiefly,
she that awakened his own mind and that of
others to that sense Of legal wrongs of
women which have since taken shape in the
movement which has already abolished
many of their expressions and is destined to
make new era in civilization. She
wrote, he assured lie, the whole OF
the celebrated article in the West
minister Reuiep on the Non-existence
of Women" and any one who has read
that paper will not need to be told that its
author possessed intellectual powers of the
highest order. Mrs. Mill was the widow of
Mr.. John Taylor, London merchant, and
there existed between them pure friend
ship for fifteen years before-aiter the hus-
bands death--they were married. Since her
death her only daughter, Helen Taylor, has
been the devoted companion in the studies
of tho great man, and her various writings
show that she has Inherited the gifts OF her
mother.
AT the time of their marriage, and for
some time alter, Carlyle was an intimate
friend THE Mills's. have heard from both
of them the story of the calamity which &C.
Cured in connection with the manuscript
volume of the French Revolution" Car
lyle sent it to Mr. Mill to read, and it was
given into the bands of Mrs. Mill. She left
it for little time open on the library table,
where servant girl found it and took it to
kindle u fire. Mill was almost heart-broken
at the event, and Carlyle's generosity only
made his grief deeper, until, by an act
of memory which was little short of sub
lime, he reproduced the superb epic, of
which no copy whatever had been pre-
served. But it was heavy thing, and Car
lyle's health has never been the same since.
The friendship Of the two men could not, of
course, be impaired by this rather it was
heiShtened-but they naturally did not meet
each other much after their political views
had dlyergcd SO widely, and, az once heard
Mr.. Mill express it, "Carlye turned around
and began to fight ali his friends Never
thciess, the most cordial respect existed be-
tween them to the last, and among the many
saddcned hearts IN England this day, none
will DC sadder than that large heart which
hast g aft ,halco,