CURRENT TOPICS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1248, 30 January 1896, Page 32

CURRENT TOPICS.

THE ANNIVERSARY. We are still young- in Wellington. Judged by the ordinary standard of individual life we are getting old, of course. Fifty-six is a good ripe age as men take it. " You are looking well and hearty, old fellow ; a little too much flour about your upper works ; it softens the asperities which lie in a wrinkle or two Avhich your best friends will not attempt to ignore; but after all, old friend, a man is only as old as he feels." The formula is common enough in the experience of those who have passed their half century. In the life of a town, however, a half century is nothing. There are a few cases in the world's record in which half a century's growth has brought great centres to a pitch of perfection which is a marvel. It is, at the same time, in some cases a source of disquietude. Look at Melbourne. "Marvellous Melbourne " it was called longbefore the limit of fifty years of civic life had been reached. It was the capital of Australia, the city par excellence of Australia Felix, the wonderful city of half a million inhabitants commanding the trade of the Continent, living on the realised wealth of a period which reduced the flame of Aladdin's lamp to a very commonplace glare. But in the progress of this Marvellous Melbourne there came a sudden stop. There was a boom, and there was a collapse, the population fell suddenly away, and" there was talk of a mistaken policy. At all events Melbourne ceased to be marvellous. That fate has ; not befallen Wellington. " Marvellous " is not the word that anyone applies to Wellington. But everyone admits that the progress of the city has been not only satisfactory but very great, and there is no doubt about the future in any reflecting mind. It seems only the other day that the jubilee of the city was celebrated. On that occasion we had a fine January day, the finest of the New Zealand summer days it was, as we all remember. The history of the place was given on that occasion by the public prints. We read how the settlement was founded 50 years be.?ore, how it began at the other end of the harbour. The early struggles of the first settlers, their troubles with hostile natives, their harassments by flood, and field, their change to the site of the present city ; of these things th« accounts were full. The earthquake period came next in the narrative,- and the ill-starred attempt to getaway en masse to more favourable skies and more congenial surroundings. Then came the story of a revived civic life, of properity slowly coming, of self-govern-ment under difficulties, of. reclamations from the vasty deep. It was a story of self-reliance, of well-directed effort, of difficulties overcome. When the capital of the Colony was changed, it was said that Wellington was beginning to come to its own. ()f the wisdom and propriety of the change i there has been no question since. And the progress of the city from that time' was substantial and solid. Buildings grew on the places where the sea had possession to that time ; wharves grew out of the water as if by magic. Only the other day we had a detailed account of their growth, their furnishing, their extent, their splendid convenience. On the jubilee day of which Ave are speaking, when these things Avere described, the smoke of bush fires Avas in the air, telling of the great country opened up by the completion of the ManaAvatu Railway ; of a country getting rapidly settled and stocked. As the old settlers, a hardy remnant, and the children, in the glory of health and numbers, passed along in procession through the streets, all the onlookers felt that the great city was a credit to its people, and many Avere the prophecies of its great future. Six years have passed, and they have been six years of a fulfilment which is only in its J infancy. But what a splendid infarcy it is! The town has since then filled the level ground, crowded over the picturesque hills, and straggled away towards the far off Island Bay. The citizens have awakened to new ideas of civic life; they have given remarkable - evidences of their belief in the necessity for beautifying their site and improving the access to their surroundings. Warehouses have sprung- up, whole streets of them, in splendid array, and the headquarters of many colonial institutions have boon established among us. Health and beauty have been by the determination of the citizens combined, for at the moment of greatest development steps Avere taken to supply the city with a tine system of drainage. Tho best port, the best drained city, the best Avatered, the best furnished in every way that is what the citizens have determined that their city shall be. It is in some of those respects short oi: what it will be in time. But the determination and good sense of the citizens is in evidence, and nothing will prevent those qualities from making ' the fastest growing city in New Zealand shortly Avhat it ought in every respect to be as the capital of New Zealand. In spite of the Avmd, the anniversary holiday Avas vastly enjoyed by the people J of Wellington. The fact is that in Wellington we are accustomed to Avind, perhaps not more so than they are in other parts of New Zealand. But nobody makes any particular fuss about a gale until he gets to Wellington. • People who escape from the noi'-Av esters of the south, the easterlies of Dunedin and Christchurch—the latter are awful—and that Devil's Punch Boavl known as the Bluff imagine they have a right to claim a dead calm every time they reach Wellington ; and, finding a familiar climate, they curse their surroundings and run after their hats. It is a proof of the philosophical character of the citizens of Wellington that these sallies are invariably received Avith good humour, and sometimes with approbation. In the latter theve is a sense of hospitality superadded to the philosophical sentiment which makes a combination really great. On the 22nd the ,

wind was in ono respect found an advantage at the Hutt Park—an uncomfortable advantage, certainly ; but still an advantage, inasmuch as it added to the sportsmanlike uncertainty achieved by the very fine handicapping. A good day's sport, an exceptionally large contribution to the totalisator, and some fair dividends ; what move could the heart of man desire ? On the water the picnic parties managed to get to their destinations by the simple process of hugging a lee shore. Instead of "rumbling the skippers of these excursion craft j ust adapt themselves to circumstances, say nothing about the weather.and get their people comfortably to the desired ground. With the yachtsmen it is of course different. But they have not on these occasions too much to complain of. A full gale with a choppy, angry sea brings out all their skill and pluck and sterling manhood. So it was on the 22nd, as every one who watched the boats readily saw and fully appreciated. The railways did their share, and on the whole the public enj >yed itself in proper holiday fashion, and gets back to work next morning all the better for the change and the outing. So more it be always. THE WAIIIARAPA TROUBLE. A little soul lias written that the Premier is dishonest because a Parliamentary committee reported that the Natives were treated unjustly, and that the present Government was once reported to have had the intention of treating them unjustly. The second of these conclusions was a. falsehood, and the first was not. The second ought only to have been mentioned with an apology, the other is entirely beside the mark. The committee did not make the facts ; the committee was the last of a long series of invertebrate authorities who cared nothing for the facts; the committee was in fact no better than its predecessors in the matter ; and the committee did absolutely nothing towards the final solution. If the committee had been worth, its salt it would have settled the difficulty by a practical recommendation. The committee only said what everyone knew, viz., that injustice had been done. If that was anything at all, it was an authority to the Government to do right. But the doing of right was the work of the Government, aud all the authorities, whether politically friendly or unfriendly, have said that the Government has done right, and that it deserves the credit which none of its predecessors ever even attempted to earn. To talk- of "the supreme self-glorification of the Premier " under the circumstances, and to charge him with fanfaronade and unblushingly posing as a benefactor, is an impertinence of the most shallow description. How many reports of committees are on the books of Parliament:-' 'We should like our evening- contemporary to answer that question. We should like him also to tell us how many of those reports have been given effect to. WJien In; has got the answers down in writing he will discover that it is simple nonsense to talk of a committee report as settling anything. When he arrives at that stage he will understand why Air Buchanan, who does not love the Government any more than the Post- does, aud who knows the facts at least as well, had the manli-

ness and good sense to publicly give the Government credit for its action in the settlement of the difficulty. The same may be said for the warm and substantial testimony of Mr Matthews. We invite the Post to go so far on the road towards truth, because at that point he will meet a friend he of all people values. He will meet himself; and, strange to say, in the character of the critic giving credit to the Premier and his Government. On the day of publication just after the Pigeon Bush picnic, the Post was true both to the Premier and to himself. He gave credit to the Premier for the settlement, and as he cannot be whole-souled he found fault with the Premier at the same time for prolixity. But he found very little fault with his claim to have settled the difficulty. Guarded he was as became the owner of the lynx-eye that on occasion can see nothing. Still, lie only denied a small portion of the claimed credit. The next day, however, he fell a prey to remorse ; he turned his back on the facts; he dived into a committee report, and he pronounced the Premier an impostor all along the whole line. Brought to book ho got a little Hurried, aud growled about loss of temper, unintelligible writing, and vulgar abuse. No! It will not do. Nobody has lost his temper unless perhaps the Post, who, being iua false position, may be expected to lash out a little. Nobody has been obscure except to those who won't see ; and nobody has been vulgar except in the eyes of those who are hard hit —again a natural thing. The public will probably prefer the testimony so freely and fully given by the Maori owners who have weighed Governments and committees for thirty years and found them wanting ; so ungrudgingly given by Messrs Buchanan and Matthews, who knew what they were talking about; so guardedly but firmly given by the Post himself in a lucid moment. As for these afterthoughts about committee reports, " away with them" —that will be the verdict of every man who has a mind of his own to use. For the future, it will be well for the Post to make up his mind what ho is going to say before he says it.

COLONIAL BANK IN LIQUIDATION. The verdict given by the shareholders at their meeting in Dunedin on the 22nd hist, confirms our views as exjDressed in our issue of 28th November last, and completely sets aside the malcontents, who, for political or self-interested motives, wished to cast unmerited discredit on the amalgamation of the Colonial Bank with the Bank of New Zealand, as well as on the directors and stall' of the Colonial Bank. The stall have now the satisfaction of knowing that their late chief inspector has been elected at head of the poll a,s a liquidator, and the directors that the only one of their number who stood has also been elected. We congratulate the majority of the shareholders on their selection of those will undoubtedly serve their interests better than men who, in addition to being unknown and untried, would have everything to learn as tcaccounts and properties to lie liquidated. Amongst those who tried to make the occasion serve their ends wort; the usual disappointed and disaffected politicians. But the matters of C'l'tain mare's nes;ts being fresh in their

4*ecoUectioli> the shareholders were not to be gtilled into sufferihglOssfOr the furtherance of the views of such persons. The directors of the Colonial Sank have had the sympathy cf every thoughtful, honest maa in th. 3 trying situation in which they were placed. Had they, at the Bank's meetings, done what some suggested, viz., declared the Bank to be going backward, every sane person knows than, without fresh capital, it could not' have stood ; and, in such an event, what -would have been the outcome to shareholders, whose interests politicians, eager to decry their country, and private persons holding few> if any> shares, have appeared so desirous to serve ? The answer is emphatically given by the votes at the sha.rehold.era* meeting. THE CENSUS OF 1896. In another column we publish an interesting paper by the Registraf-Ceneral giving much valuable information about the details of the coming census. It will be seen (hat the information to be collected is in some important respects much wider and more varied than the information collected \i\ former years. The fact that, iii spite of the increased requirements for which preparation had to be made, the census was actually announced on the same day as the census of IS9I was taken, viz., April o, proves that the Government, so far from purposely delaying matters, has done its best to push them forward. It is true that the original date. April 5, wa3 altered to April 12th, and it is true that the reason was that the first date Was found to be Easter Sunday. It has been stated that the alteration was quite uu necessary, because the movements of holidaymakers can be trusted to equalise toafcters, those going away from a place replaced by strangers from another. That is a guess at best, and guesses are not to be tolerated as guides to an alteration of the basis of representation. Especially is this tne case when the guesses are transparently bad. Easter is the season of Volunteer encampments, which are attended by thousands of Volunteers and thousands of sight-seers. The effect of taking a census during these encampments would be to unduly swell the population of certain districts. That is so apparent that we need say no more on the xjoint. Moreover, Parliament will not expire by effluxion of time in November* as has been stated by our ill-informed evening contemporary. By the Triennial Act the three years period is computed from the day the wiits were returned, and the writs were returned in 1893 on December sth if we remember right ; certainly not earlier. The Registrar-General intimated last session that he would be . ready for the Representation Commissioners by the end of September, and we see little to alter that estimate in the postponement of the census taking by one week. Some one said during the session that matters might be expedited by employing electric methods of completion after the American method. The answer to that is that, as the RegistrarGeneral points out in the memorandum we publish elsewhere, the American system has been tried in Victoria, and found unsuitable, as it is only adapted to working with large numbers. Whether the Representation Commissioners will be able to do their work in time for an election late in November or early in December is a question which they will settle when they come to do their work. The facts of the case show that the Government have done remarkably well to be ready for the census before the last date permitted, viz., April 30th, and that Parliament does not expire in November, but later. There is nothing whatever to warrant the audacious assertion that they are preparing to violate the law. It seems to have been conveniently forgotten that between the census day and the date of the general election there is to be another session of Parliament. That fact alone should have prevented such a wild accusation. THE LATE PRINCE HENRY. The expression of sympathy which the Premier has been thoughtful enough to send to the Sovereign certainly represents the feeling of New Zealand. Without distinction of political feeling, everyone in the country unites in this expression of deep regret and sympathy. The sad bereavement sustained by the Royal House has touched the chord which has been set vibrating by recent events of Imperial importance. These events have shown that the old national and patriotic spirit is as strong and firm and eager as it ever was before the days of the Empire of which we are all members, and of which we are all beyond measure proud. The testimony to the reality and strength of this spirit which has come from every part of the Empire is overwhelming. It is one of the most striking and important developments of our time. Akin to this spirit, and indeed an integral part of it, is the sympathy felt for the Empress Queen and her daughter in the sad bereavement they have just sustained. The circumstances under which the young Prince met his death especially appeal to the spirit which has given such striking evidence of its existence. The Ashanti campaign has , been bloodless. But those who took part in it were prepared for serious work. Among them was the young Prince, who, in the highest spirit of duty, determined to take part in a work of great Imperial importance. Had there been a war on a great scale, such as the Continent of Europe has seen within the last three decades, he would have come out of his comfortable leisure and taken part. The campaign which offered him ' his opportunity was not of that kind. But it was of the same character. The details were small, but the principle was the same. He obeyed the call of principle, he , encountered danger, and ho went into ! line with the brave strong men of the nation, who went to the front in a J dangerous climate. He found death, and

the Empire admires him for the sacrifice he !

risked in common with those who offer their lives for their country. He placed hinlself in the position of danger which the officers, his associates and friends have to face in the course of their careers. The fortune of war has struck him down, and as he lies awaiting burial at the hands of his people the Empire has realised that the Royal Family takes the same chances for the public good that are the lot of all those who fight for the honour of the flag. Therefore the heart of the whole Empire has gone out to the Boyal Family. The Queen has by her virtues and her high character and her great attainments earned the attachment of the many millions who own her rule. Her age is one Of the' great ages Of Our liisfcOryi It is the "Victorian ago, Which compares everywhere With the other great age, known as the

Elizabethan. What the older age sowed the Victorian is reaping; That is the verdict of the universal world to-day. In tile comparison, or rather sequel, it- is a strange coincidence at the present moment that the gi'eat Queen's chief councillor happens to be a descendant of the great councillor of the great days of tbe Spanish Armada. The grief in which the Sovereign and her family are plunged reminds Us that the virtues of the Queen are part of the cement which binds together all the parts of the greatest Empire of our time, One of the greatest in the history of the world: It has touched the heart of all the Imperial populations by the proof it has afforded that the Royal Family takes its share of the danger's incidental to the maintenance of the Empire. We all share that grief, as we share the grief of the friends of the lowest in rank of those who did in the public service. Proudly we joined with all oar fellow-subjects in the stand lately made for British honour. Sorrowfully we join with the in in the sympathy they have offered for the sacrifice made in the duty of maintaining that honour. In honour and loyalty and sacrifice the Empire, thank Cod, is one and undivided. Schemes of Federation nlay yet be dreams, but the unity of the Empire is a cordial living reality.

THE SUPPOSED RU3SO-TURKISH TREATY.

Pi 1 is difficult to believe yet that such a treaty has been signed as tbe cable has now twice referred to. The first authority, thePaiZ Mall Gazette, is a little too wild, its editor being a veritable Jingo of tbe Jingoes,to be taken too seriously. The Speaker is more solid, and can boast of reliable correspondents. One of these corroborates the Pall Mall's, story this morning, and adds details. As one of these is that the bankrupt Sultan has made presents to the value of many thousands of pounds, and as international treaties are not accompanied at this early stage by presents at all, we may still entertain a lingering doubt. Still, the corroboration is certainly disquieting. We feel bound to regard the treaty as a possibility, and therefore must discuss it. It is said to be in its terms similar to the treaty concluded between Russia and Turkey in 1833. The terms were an offensive and defensive alliance, and there was a secret clause binding the Sultan to obey any request the Czar might make for closing the Dardanelles against all navies but that of Russia. The circumstances under which this treaty was made, at Hunkiar-Iskelessi, are worth reading. Ibrahim Pasha, the son of Mehemet Ali, had just ,completed his conquest of Syria, Palestine and Asia Minor by the tremendous victory of Komeh, which is described in history as a Turkish Cannae. The reason why the Egyptian troops were so superior to the Turks in that campaign is well known. Sultan Mahmoud had just dislodged the Janissaries with his artillery, and this put down the revolt of the Turkish armies against the introduction of European military discipline, when he found himself confronted with a rebellion in Northern Greece. Having substituted no organisation for that which he had put down, he had to call in the assistance of the Pasha of Egypt, who had not long before put down the power of the Mamelukes with an army trained and equipped in the European fashion. Mehemet Ali sent his regiments over to the Peninsula under his son Ibrahim, who put down the rebellion very quickly. Finding that Mahmoud made no further headway with his military reforms, lie marched for Constantinople, carrying fire and sword, with the result above mentioned. Everywhere the Turks were beaten and dispersed, and tbe Turkish Empire lay at the mercy of the Pasha of Egypt. Sultan Mahmoud in his extremity applied I to England for help. It was the day of \ cheeseparing economy ; the army had ' been reduced ; the navy J was weaker than it had ever been, and there was a disposition to leave Continental politics to take care of themselves. An answer was returned thanking the Sultan for his invitation, and intimating that England had not the means to help him. Mahmoud thereupon applied to the Czar, who at once sent four line of battleships and 6000 men to the Golden Horn. Ibrahim, pointing his battalions for Stamboul, once more prepared for fighting. On the road he was met by a message from the French Admiral Roussin, who had been sent by his Government with a squadron to help the Sultan. Ibrahim stopped for a few days, and then once more began his march. But by that time the Russians had 12,000 more men on the scene, and Ibrahim found himself confronted with a powerful Russian army near Scutari. Recognising the hopelesssness of the task, he promptly made peace, / acquiring by treaty the whole of Syria and | Palestine, the j)ermanence of the Khedive j over Egypt, and the addition of the island of Crete to his dominions. Russia at the same time secured the treaty of HunkiarIskelessi. But these treaties came to nothing. Syria and Palestine were quickly recoverod by a Franco-British expedition, Crete was never handed over, the Russian offensive- and defensive- alliance vanished

into thin air, and the Russian troops- went away over the water b.xck to their banSite&w at Odessa and Sebastopol. The treaty of 1833, then, availed neither of the signatory Powers anything, though Europe was not tVell prepared- Europe being now much better pr'e'paied; ?md not too friendly to Turkey, the rumoured treaty does not on _ examination necessarily' Itfok afl formidable as on the first announcement. There is, however, a very important difference on the present occasion. Russia is in better condition to seif'-o and. hold Constantinople and ihe Dardanelles than she was in J 833, and if this treaty has been signed, she will be able to come in promptly in force, while GrOat Britain and France are not in combination against her,- or likely to be, unless there is more than meets the eye in certain Ministerial statements lately mad.". However, the treaty is still denied, and though the original rumour has had one confirmation, thereby making it more serious, it is possible still to hope that someone may have blundered. If the rumour is true, then Russia has. aa happened in 1833, made the move which ought to have been made by Great- Britain, and which was thought to have boon contemplated the other day by Lord Salisbu:y.

LOANS

Ever since the present Government came into office it has been persistently dinned into our ears that a groat loan policy was imminent. Every session has falsified that prediction utterly. Nevertheless, every recess sees the prediction repented, of course with variations according to circumstances The Premier, whether it was Mr Ballauce ' or Mr Sodden, has always been represented as much perplexed about his fragile tenure of power, growing gradually and surely more precarious. Ministers are always represented as throwing out "feelers," they are divided on the ground that they have found that< the country has not responded, and their speedy downfall is predicted. But there they are nevertheless. The most curious part of the business is that the very organs which declare that the country never responds are always trying to make the country believe that a big loan is the very thing necessary, and just, and proper and profitable. The I'<k4 has often taken pains to point out that it is not against a loan policy at all, but that its sole contention is that the present Ministers are not the proper men to be entrusted with the expenditure. Nevertheless, their discovery that the supposed "feelers" do not draw the public is a condemnation of their own efforts. The Government has never thrown out any feelers at all, either in Mr Ballance's time or in Mr Seddon's. The Opposition press has " barracked " for a loan, and has failed. It is all very well to declare that the Government has offered a loan policy and been snubbed. The party snubbed is the Opposition press, which has " barracked " for a, loan, not the Government which has never had the remotest I intention of proposing such a thing. Undeterred by these failures, the Opposition press keeps on proposing a loan, and continues to lay the blame of their failure on tiie Government shoulders. The latest instance is founded on the speech of Mr Cad.nan at the Thames banquet. Mr Cadmau spoke about the question of a loan, as he had a perfect right to do. The subject is not " tapu " to a Minister any more than to any private member. It is the custom of people everywhere to discuss the question of a loan, and in every centre there are persons who advocate a straight out loan policy. To these discussions no member of Parliament speaking in public can be deaf. To ignore them would bo folly. To announce a loan policy would be contrary to the intentions of the Cabinet, so far as the Cabinet has made known its intentions. Mr Cadmau did his duty in noticing these discussions. He said, on the one hand, that without a loan the country must restrict its public works expenditure to a yearly sum within its means. He said, on i the other side, that if the country wants a loan the rates of interest are more favourable than they ever were ; and there the matter ends. The idea that the Government cannot remain in office without a loan is too preposterous. It is met by the facts of their history. They have; not lived by larycsss to the various constituencies. It is not loan expenditure which lias kept them in power. It is not loan expenditure which will keep any Ministry in power, if the Government which has won every general election with increasing majorities is, according to the Opposition journals, unable to get the public to take to a loan policy, the Opposition must be, by reason of its repeated defeats, very much more powerless in the matter. The statement that the Government owes its popularity to the lavish expenditure of money is quite untenable. There has been no lavish expenditure in their time, and they have established a record for legislation and administration which is the secret of their continued tenure of power. We have been told, with a persistence worthy of a better cause, that they are at the end of their tenure. But there is nothing to recommend the theory but broken prophecies. The Government depends on something more substantial than the mere expenditure of money. It depends on a policy of justice to the masses, and it will continue to prevail. THE LATE SIR FREDERICK LEIGHTON. The death of the President of the Royal Academy, the news of which is given in our cablegrams this morning, comes as a surprise, as it is only a few weeks since we | learnt that tbe mane of Sir Frederick ; Leighton was included in the list of Imperial New Year honours, and that he had been made a Peer of the Realm. This was the first occasion in the history of England that such a recognition had been accorded to Art. and it was universally admitted that in no caso could the- title have been raoro '

worthily bestowed. Leighton's transcendent ability as a painter and sculptor, aeknowI lodged as it was throughout the world would have alone entitled him to the highest rank the nation could bestow, but he possessed many other qualities which especially fitted him for the position he occupied tor nearly 20 years. A man ol high culture, a literary critic of keen and discriminating taste, and possessed of exceptionally striking oratorical power, the speeches he delivered at the annual banquets of the Academy—the literary and artistic symposia of the year—were models of what such utterances should be. But above and beyond all, Sir Frederick Leighton (for by this name, apart from any title he may have assumed in the last weeks of his life, will he be known to posterity) was an artist in tho broadest and noblest seme of tho work '\'h<>:i he accepted the oiiiec . ~...- ~duiu m 1878 he found liim-- ■!r at the head of an institution that had for many years been deservedly held up to ridicule. To clear this Augean stable of hide-bound conservatism was a task '..l:' truly Herculean proportions, and demanded not only energy and enthusiasm, but the most consummate tact and diplomacy. Reforms had to be initiated with the greatest caution, in order not to offend tho susceptibilities and prejudices of the older Academicians, but Leighton was ;\<>l allowed to pass away before he had made the schools an example and a model to other countries, instead of a laughing stock, as was the case in former times. That his whole heart and soul were in this work is to be seen in the pathetic death-bed murmuring, as recorded in the cablegram, " My love, the Academy!" and the world will not readily forget the great and noble service rendered to Art by the late president. Of Leighton's own work as a painter there is no necessity to speak at length in this place. it may be safely said, however, that his name will be one of the few in the present century that will be placed among the great by posterity. His style belonged mainly to the classical decorative, as in his " Daphnephoria" and the " Arts of Wiiv and Peace" in Kensington Museum, but that he could also tell a story with intense tragic force can be seen in his "Rizpah," the bereaved mother watching over the dead bodies of her two sons —one of the most extraordinary pictures of modern times. The only important example of Leighton's work in these colonies is " Wedded," entitled to rank perhaps as the finest painting in the New South Wales National Gallery. But apart altogether from his work as a painter and sculptor —and as a plastic artist lie achieved several unquestionable successes it is as a man that his life will be regarded as especially noteworthy by those most interested. His career furnishes a record of the noblest and highest ideals, faithfully and earnestly pursued, and by the death of Sir Frederick Leighton the world has been left to mourn the loss of one who was not only a notable artist but udiio a groaiJ man.