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918 THE LEADER, [Saturday ,
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TO READERS AND CORRESPONDENTS. It ia imp...
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[ The following appeared in our Second ^...
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Satukday, September 18. Particulars of t...
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Some of the Paris journals have given ex...
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The incidents of the progress of M. Bona...
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During the week, the musical festival, a...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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918 The Leader, [Saturday ,
918 THE LEADER , [ Saturday ,
To Readers And Correspondents. It Ia Imp...
TO READERS AND CORRESPONDENTS . It ia impossible to acknowledge the mass of letters we receive . Their insertion ia often delayed , owing to a press of matter ; and when omitted , it is frequently from reasons quite independent of the merits of the communication .
[ The Following Appeared In Our Second ^...
[ The following appeared in our Second ^ Edition of last weefc . ~ \
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Satukday, September 18. Particulars Of T...
Satukday , September 18 . Particulars of the last moments and ha"bits of the Duke of Wellington , as well as speculations respecting Ms funeral , occupy the public press and the public mind . At a late hour last night the Earl of Derby arrived at his mansion in St . James ' -square from Balmoral . Her Majesty and Prince Albert had received with deep concern the announcement of the Duke of Wellington ' s death , and the noble Premier had at once , in compliance with the command of Her Majesty , returned to town .
At noon yesterday the new Duke of Wellington arrived at Walmer Castle . He was at Baden Baden when the news of his father ' s death reached him , and hastening back without an hour ' s delay landed at Dover yesterday morning by the Ostend boat . His presence removes the chief cause for delay , in the arrangements for the funeral , but , as already announced , they will not be definitively settled until Her Majesty ' s will has . been declared by her constitutional advisers . In the meantime steps are being taken for removing the body of the illustrious deceased to Apsley-house , where it will remain until the preparations for the interment are completed . A leaden coffin was sent down to Walmer Castle last nitrht from Messrs . Dowbiggin , Holland ,
and Co ., of Mount-street , Grosvenor-square , and it is expected that the removal to town will take place tonight or on Monday . According to the Herald his body will be buried publicly . The Duchess , it is thought , will arrive at Walmer Castle in time to have a parting look at i lie well-remembered features of the departed . It is said that these have been little changed in expression by the hand of death , a circumstance the less surprising from their singularly marked character . Mr . Adams , an artist whose name will be remembered as the successful competitor for the design of tlie Jurors ' medal in the Great Exhibition , has been fortunate enough to secure a cast of the Duke ' s face , and this memorial of him will no doubt hereafter be highly valued as an authentic likeness .
The Spartan simplicity of his habits was maintained to the last , and the only relaxation which he permittedhimself was an occasional extra hour ' s rest at Walmer . In his 8 . 1 th year he was still the same abstemious , active , selfdenying man he had ever been , rising early , never latterly tasting wine or spirits , taking regular exercise on foot and on horseback , sleeping on a hard uncurtained conch , and rejecting even the luxury of a downy pillow . A story is told of ! i Highland chief who , finding his son reclining his head on a ball of snow , relinked the effeminate indulgence by kicking it from under him . The Duke used a pillow , but it was an exceedingly hard one , stalled with horsehair , and lined with wash-leather , and he carried it about with him wherever he went . His
lif !; had for years been a steady system of defensive wir / iire against the approach of < lisca . se , and death overtook him at last from . sheer exhaustion , without being preceded by a single day ' s illness . On the very morning of his fatal attack it w : is much feared that he would persist in going to meet Lady Westmoreland at Dover ; and not long ago , when Huilering from a . severe cold , he . could not be persuaded to keep bis room , but joined the dinner circle in his great coat . His habits certainly throw a striking light , on his whole character ; and when we learn that , to the last his daily toilette was
performed without , the slightest assistance , we can appreciate how fully he acted up to a favourite motto of his own— -that if a man wanted to have anything properly done In ; must , do it himself . It took him from halfpast , six o ' clock till nine every morning to divws ; hut even to the operation of shaving he did all himself ; and at his age that must have been nearly as difficult : i feat as winning a hut ! le in early life . Though in his Kith year , lies still " wrote a firm hand and carried on a large correspondence—curious confirmations of the strength of nerve required to form a great commander .
Of the assiduity with which he laboured to discharge his public duties the world require no evidence . The Iron Duke alone could have struggled , nguinst increasing deafnesH , to catch throughout long nights of tedious debute the arguments of even the dullest spenlu'is . He did that because ho considered it his duf . y as the most inlliiciitiiil member of the House of 1 ' cers . His unremitting attention to the oflicial biiHine . su of the Coinmi » nderHhip-in-Chief in known to all who have taken advantage of Inn regular attendance at thn JIor . se
Guards that they might see him as he passed . But a hardly less striking illustration , of devotion to duty , however arduous at a period of life prolonged much beyond the ordinary limits , remains to be mentioned . His Grace was Chancellor of the University of Oxford , and in the fulfilment of that office had during the summer months waded through all but a few pages of that enormous blue-book which embodies , and perhaps entombs , the labours of the recent Commission . Death overtook him when near the close of this immense effort of research , for he read every word conscientiously , and indeed it was not his habit to skip anything .
To the last his powers of memory and the cheerfulness of a well-balanced mind remained unimpaired . ^ A day or two before his death , referring to the subject of civic feasts , he told an incident in the life of Pitt which is worth recording . The last public dinner which Pitt attended was at the Mansion-house , when his health was proposed as the saviour of his country . The Duke expressed his admiration of Pitt ' s speech in reply , which was in substance that the country had saved herself by her own exertions , and that every other country might do the same by following her example . A pleasing trait in the Duke ' s character is the long
period during which a large proportion of his dependents have been connected with or served him , and the unvarying testimony which they bear to his good and kind qualities a , s an employer , a landlord , and a master . Exact and punctual in the management of his private affairs , up to the last moment his weekly bills were discharged by him as usual ; and this precision , which he carried into everything , made him easily dealt with . Amid the splendour of his public achievements , his conduct as a landed proprietor is apt to be forgotten . Yet was he one of the most liberal and improving landlords in the country . The estate of Strathfieldsaye , which he used to say Avould have ruined any man but
himself , has had more done for it in the shape of permanent improvements—of draining , of chalking , of substantial farm premises , and such like , than perhaps any other single property in tlie south of England . It " was a wretched investment of the public money ; but the Duke , true to his usual maxim , did the best he could with it , and the annual income for a long series of years has been regularly laid out upon it . As to his household , even the French cook , overlooking Waterloo and his Grace ' s indifference to the science of gastronomy , mourns for his death . He had exhausted all the efforts of his art in vain to elicit commendation from the Duke , who showed no preference for a good dinner over a bad one . This troubled the chef de cuisine , but he admits that his master was a very great man notwithstanding .
Some Of The Paris Journals Have Given Ex...
Some of the Paris journals have given expression to their opinions , or such opinions sis they are allowed to have , on the life and death of the Duke . The war-yelling Conslitulionnel is unusually bland : — " To sum up , Lord Wellington was an English General in the full acceptation of the word -cool , calm , methodical , without enthusiasm , but without , any false brilliancy ; sure of himself , confident , in his soldiers , and always firm both in good juid bad fortune . It , has been justly remarked , Unit , in the numerous despatches which he published , and which form twelve enormous volumes , the word glory never occurs . 11 is only dominant passion was love of his country . His conduct , and his character maybe summed up in a word—lie was a Tilt , on horseback . " The Palis- says , —
" The mime of ( he Duke of Wellington was European . The vast events in which he was mixed up , the immense pint which he played during many long years in the dostinics of Hie world , the eminent place which be occupied in the councils of the down of Kngland , and tlio great authority which he exorcised over his party in Parliament , have made this personage one of the most remarkable of our time . The news of his death will produce a profound Hcnsation m Kurope . " The /'(( trie is an exception to the good feeling manifested by the other Ministerial journals . Jn closing its biographical sketch of the Duke of Wellington it Hays , — - 11
The Duke of Wellington died full of days , overwhelmed with honours , with pensions , and sinecures ; but in descending into the tomb lie must have curried with him ( ho painful " certainty that , the undertaking to which he devoted 11 im i-ure faculties wan dead , and that , the liberty for which he bad refiiHed to draw tlui uworil bad triumphed everywhere , in hi . s own country first of all , and in the rest of Hie world afterwards ; and , to complete his disappointment , that the great , name of Napoleon , which lie had bolieveil buried for ever under tin ; pyramid of Mont St . lean , wiMi the honour of 1 'Yunce , had risen more full of life and more popular than ever . " The example of the J ' atrht in followed by the 7 ' nW , If , says , -
" In the hitter years the Duke only made himself talked about by bin annual banquets in honour of the battle of Waterloo , by Home squabbles wit li tho newspapers , and by affected appreheiiHionn with whiuli the possible descent of a . I'Ycnch army in Kngland inspired him . He lived long enough to nee the disHolution of hw party and th « vanity
of the efforts of the past against the conquests of xnoen ** and liberty . He was , m his own country , as a vestif * % times which exist no more . The pride , more than t . l ? gratitude , of his countrymen , has caused statues ¦ t « K erected to him . But the future owes him nothine-- v name will only be for posterity a sonorous word and V image will not be found in the only Pantheon whiS ! countries will respect—in the Pantheon of Liberty . " The article in the . Sibcle is by no means ungenerous and will delight the friends of peace . We extract a ' follows : — s " We have no pretension to appreciate , in a few hastv lines , such a busy existence . We confine ourselves for to day to noticing the differences which exist in the spirit and the relations of the two nations , between the present tim and that at which enthusiastic England saluted the mor 6 than doubtful conqueror of Waterloo . The ardent rivalry
the hatreds of centuries , have become appeased . France and England have made immense progress in all th branches of human activity . The Duke of Wellington was , during the first period of his life , the last representative of the fatal animosities which so long armed one against the other—the two powerful nations whose union is now necessary to the march of civilization . The sword —it is to be hoped , at least—has for ever been sheathed . The fields of battle on which France and England " have so fiercely contended have become transformed , and the pacific conflicts of manufactures and
commerce have succeeded to sanguinary contests . In our eyes , the Duke of Wellington ' s best title to glory is that he understood in the latter years of his life the strik ' ing transformation , and identified himself with the spirit of the century . We will make no other reflections in presence of the tomb , into which the old general is about to descend . In . 1816 , he went about Paris with five cockades in Ms hat , as the Iloniteur of those days relates ; and the cosmopolitism which he then displayed had a si gnification which no doubt he did not divine , but which , had a prophetic character . The union of nations , whose symbols lie wore , tends every day to become a truth . "
The Debats gives a short biography of the Duke without comment . The Assemblee Nationale , the Union , and the Univers merely give the telegraphic despatch announcing the death .
The Incidents Of The Progress Of M. Bona...
The incidents of the progress of M . Bonaparte leaves no doubt that the Empire is theatrically provided for . M . Bonaparte has declared that , in all public matter ? , he obeys principle ; but in all personal matters he obeys the public wishes . What could be clearer ? Ever since he left Vierzon the cry has been , " Vive I'Empereur / " All along the line the cry is " Vive VEmpereur J" At least , such is the account givon by his satrups , the prefects j showing that if such cries have not been heard , the world must be made to believe we have , which comes to the same thing . Not the least insignificant incident was that over the gates over the palace of the cardinal , at Bourges—the initials , " L . N . " were surrounded by an Imperial Crown .
During The Week, The Musical Festival, A...
During the week , the musical festival , at Hereford , has been performed . It wound up yesterday , with tho Messiah . Information up to the 9 th instant has been received from Mr . Owen Jones and Mr . Wyntt , who have been appointed by the directors of tho Now Crystal Palace to collect illustrations of the art of the continent . The travellers had reached Home . Tho results of their journey appear hitherto to be highly successful . At Paris permission had been obtained to mould several of the finest works in the Louvre , amongst others , the Great Nnnrood , from Egypt , several of tho best Venuses , and colossal Htatuos by . Jean ( Joujon , in all , about 400 pieces , H *' 0 which will be above life size . Casts of the Glnberti Ont . es have also been secured , as well as of the principal ol Miclmei Florencein
Angelo ' s figures in the Medici Chapel , at , ' important HerieH of cinque cento ornamentals , and M > works of Lucca della Kobbia , Donatello , & e . From the museums of Naples a most , valuable collcem has been obtained , and arrangements have been nm ""_ enable the Poinpeian court to bo so carried out as to 1 > - - sent a faithful transcript of that peculiar mod" ol /•<» ' struction . To this end the services of tho first p «»» - oflicially attached to the excavations have been W ) CU j ' who will bring to thin country at tho close of thin ?!" ,,, result , of bis studies made on tho spot during Ul " . " twenty years ; every ornament will thus bo pain "" , tracings made , on the walls of Pompeii . l ° ™ | jU ( " ") Pisa several fine works of the Pisanos havo l )«« 'ii k <^ ' and Home interesting works of the Cinque Cento p <» ( A very interesting scone took place . yesterday ! " l V | " . » iy ( li .. K'iv . ' rTliinm . M .. ( I" l . lwt A . lelnlii Steam-boat P ier . ?""' ¦ '
before nine o ' clock the board of guardians th « » v *' j \ Jjn '« medical attendants , and several clergymen of M' . jrrall | , parish , came to the pier , accompanied by < i <> ° " h j m , l viz ., . ' «) men , 1 H women , and 12 children , who "" ^ f ) l 0 their passage to Adelaide paid for by the parish- _ ' ^ Htenin-boat pier some hundreds of the oriiigm "'* ^ , were in attendance to tako a farewell . J . j , iiioii ( steamer ) was beautifully dresHed out , and iiccoini" ^ provided for a large number of tho pansliionorH , ' ^ riiv 0 H . determined to accompany tho emigrants as iar as ^ )] i end , and see them safely put on board the ( Mlcp « " > } ( is to start at once for I ' ort Adelaide . Plenty of j < ^ ' ^ plum pudding , and beer was taken on boan > mi that the emigrants might enjoy themselves on ' ¦ J ^ ,, | , ney down the river . Everything l >«»' tf '" "' i-Ihofl "" Topaz started on her journey , amidst tho rll 0 / , '| in iirrn » board and those on tlie banks of the rivor . » " * ' " ., | , went placed on board the Calcutta ; , n luuciwn with much Hpoeulunaking .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 25, 1852, page 10, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_25091852/page/10/
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