New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-05-13

odd that but two members of the Cabinet, Earn
Spencer and Mr.. Childers represented the Govern
ment. OF others who, not being in the Cabinet arc
nevertheless part of the Government, there were Oh
Charles Dixie, Lord Kensington. Mr.. fawcet'' MI
Mundella and several moro. Lord SherDroohc.
Lord Aberdare. the Speaker of the House Oh
Commons. and many another political notabiiity
walking side by side with the presidents OF 'he
Colleges of Surgeons and of the Physical, the Geo
cronbical the Geological. the Lnnaan-l suppose
all the great scientific bodies.
The one great representative body conspicuous by
its absence was the Royal Family In life, as ITO
lessor Huxley says they had ignored Darwin, ana
they ignore him now that he is dead. Continents
vie with each other doing honor to the great man
who is buried to-day In England everything that
is illustrious pays him last tribnte of reverence,
ROYALTY excepted. Sometimes a King or Queen who
cannot be present IN person sends a Lord-in-Wat-
ing a Gold-Stick an aide-de-camp-some sort OF
functiOnary or othertO be respectful by proxy Not
even that poor decency was thought due to Darwin
by the Queen, or by the Prince of Wales, or by any
single member of the family which occupies the
Throne. 1t does not matter TO Darwin III matters
little to them-not perhaps very much, but IL is
one thing left undone, the dong of which would
have strengthened, as the omission of 1t weakens'
in whatever degree, the attachment of Englishmen
to their rulers.
At twenty-five minutes TO noon the coffin was
taken Nd the pall-bearers ranged themselves on
either side of it, the procession formed in the rear
and moved round the aisle Of the coisters leading
TO the Abbey. At the entrance came long matt,
and we were permitted to stand where draft oil air
swept keenly through the corridor. The conn anu
pall-bearers had passed on some church oihcias
appeared to be arranging themselves IN the gap
which their advance had left Presently the great
men in front Lord Salisbury Earl Spencer and the
rest began to cover themselves, and soon the whole
procession, was covered, and stood, not very much
at ease. looking out through the arches into the
green court This lasted for a quarter of an hour,
but Just at the stroke of IL the head of the column
passed through the narrow doorway and into the
south aisle.
The south aisle and the centre of the nave and
| choir had been kept clear: everywhere else was a
throng of humanity, almost all in black. Between
these dense masses the procession slowly TOOK
its way, along nearly the whole length
of the tho nave, entering the choir through
the door of the screen which divides and degradeS
the church The coffin was placed beneath the
lantern at the steps of the altar; the pall-beareTs
took seats on either side, the rest of the followers
passed on and into the chancel and stood there dur
ING the service. Daylight as 1t was of the London
sort the gloom between the walls OF the choir was
were lighted with the effect of mingling daylight
and candelight in the most singular manner
From where we stood in the chancel looking past
the open space beneath the lantern the choir beyond
looked like a lighted tomb or like the chdPetle
ordepte which is so marked a feature of Catholic
burias on the Continent.
The service was the usual one for the Burial Of the
Dead in its most elaborate form, with choral music
and professional chants, and deep-voced Canons
informing the given sentences. Then the company
reformed the coffin was borne back and about the
grave at the extreme eastern end of the north aisle
eat hered most of The of the family and OF
the greater circle of friends and followers OF the
dead The organ played Beethovens Funeral
March, then another by Schubert and another
Canon read the remainder of the service. There
were phrases here and there which fell strangely on
the ear but the swell of the deep notes of the organ
soon covered them. The men who composed the
burial literature of the Church of England
did so in n spirit of sincere belief. and
the sincerity saves it even when the belief is less
than 1t was The inscription on the coffin-plate
read: "Chares Robert Darwin. Born February IL.
1909. Died April 10, 1892" That too was sincere:
the simple record of the beginning and ending of a
simple and noble life. If there be anything to add
to it, let me quote again from MIR. Huxley:
He found great truth trodden under foot. re-
viled by bigots and ridicued by all the world; he
lived long enough to see it. chiefly by his own ef-
forts. rrefragaby established i'll science. insepa-
rably incorporated with the common thoughts OF
men, and only hated and feared by those who would
revile but dare not. What shall a man desire more
than this
Not much perhaps, unless it be that his epitaph
| should be written i'll just such words as these
echoed as they are through world which with rare
unanlmity DEGREES to Darwin pure and permanent
| fame. Il. W. s.