DEATH OF MR LAYARD.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XLVIII, Issue 5226, 19 November 1877, Page 3

DEATH OF MR LAYARD.

B f reference to the telegraphic news brought by the Suez mafl.and published elsewhere, it will be Been that Mr L*y»rdi» dead. For some months past he hai been British Consul at Constantinople, a post at the present crisis of some difficulty and great Importune®, and for which hie knowledge of Eabtem oujtom* and language* eminently enited; him. . Mr Layard ie. better known at the explorer of Nineveh, and tho following extract from' “ Men of the Time " enpplieea fair eketobof'hielife:— ■— 7 7 I ~, Austin Henry Bayard, M.P., D.0.L., eon of Henry P. J.Layard, E<q., and grandson of the late Dr Layard, dean of Bristol, born In Faria, March 5, 1817, ia deecended from a> family of French Protestants driven from their country by tho revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Having oommencsd the study of the law, which he soon relinquished |« more congenial poreuita, be, in 18S9, act outwith a friend on a course of travel, viaited various points in northern Europe, and proceeded through Albania and Eoumelia, to Oonatan ■ tidople, where, at one period, he acted bi b correspondent of ft London wo after ward e travelled through various part* of Asia, and learned the Arabic and Pariian lanadages. In hia wanderings he made it a special point to explore those, spot* believed to have been the sites of ancient cities, and when at Mosul, pear the mound of Nimrond, hbweii impelled with att irresistible deeiro, to examine carefully the; spot to which history and tradition point as the “ birthplace of the wisdom of the West.’ On hearing that M. Botta, a Frenchman, had been carrying oat oxoavotloae at the cost of hi* «e* vernment, and had found a of curious marbles, Mr Layard longed tor the opportunity of making fjepoverles. Returning to Constantinople, he laid bis views before Sir Stratford Canning, who, in 1845,j generously offered to share the obit of excavations at Nimrond, and in the autumn Mr Layard set off for Mosul, and began bis labours on a spot previously undisturbed. Hero he ultimately succeeded in exhuming gome of the numerous wonderful specimens of Assyrian art which enrich the British Museum. The Government and the authorities of the British Museum, however, for atime failed to appreciate the value of Mr Lavard'e researches. He wae appointed Attach to the Embassy at Constantinople. Aoril 6,1849, and Upder-Seoretwry' of State for Foreign Affaire in Lord Bussell’s first administration for a few week* inlß62jLord ■ ffllSLia. Ibi* offsr Mr Leyerd, atlw

taking'thr adyioe 'Of: In the OoallUon OabJast under Ldrd he was offered yaripus posts, wbiob; as they were of a natnri Wyemovd him from the flak 61 Bestern polities, ho declined. In 18S8 hi > was preilhted with the freedom of the oity ol 1 London, in consideration of his discoveries' amongst the rultu Af Nineveh; and wont to Constantinople with L°vd Stratford do Bed) dliffo; but; ‘ disagreeing with bhief, returned in the pours#‘of the year to England. In the House' of Obmmons he became thb advocate b! si mons deoided'oCttrso Of aotion on the Eastern question, and delivered severa) energetic and' impressive epeeohes on that important subject. In 1854 he again proceeded to the East, was a spebtatpr pf tbb important events then taking |tbe Crimea, witnessed the battle of the Alma ftom (he maintop of (he Agamemnon, and remained in the; Orinsea till after the! battle of ? Tiiko# maun, making - himself i acquainted with ; |ts actual condition. Ha wae one of the most urgent among (he-members of the House of Campons in demanding a Committee of Inquiry into the state of the army ; aud he took a leading part in. I'tn# investigation, to which he ooniributed bis eridenoe. On the formation of Lord Palmerston’s first administration, in 1855, he was again offered apost; bat as it was unconnected with the foreign policy of the country, ho declined it,'became one of the leaders of the Administrative Reform Association, and brought befofe the House of Commons, in June, 1865,p,motion_ embodying their views, which was rejected by a large majority- Ho spent some time inIndia daring the rebellion of 1857-8, endeavouring to ascertain its cause, He-was-re-turned one of the members in the’ Liberal interest for Aylesbury defeated at the generaVeleotion to Mkfoh, 1867; w:ae ao unsaoceisfol Candidate at-York in April, 1859 j was returned one of the member* for Southwark in Deo., 1860, and still retajp*; this seat. In 1848-9 ho published " Nineveh and ito Remaihsand in 1853, i a second part of the work. ' His V Monumbnta of NinOveb ” appeared in 1849-58, and ah abridged edition of " Nineveh and its Remains ”in 1851.. Mr Layard, elected Lord Rector of Aberdeen Univer-ity in 1855 and 1856, became Undersecretary of State for Foreign Affairs in Lord Palmerston’s second administration, in July, 1861, and retired on the fall of Lord Bussell’s' second administration, in July, 1866. He was appointed i n trustee of the British Museum in Feb., 1868.