Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Character, Life, And Times Of His Late Royal. Highness , By The Public Press.
individual conscience is a better guide than enactments ; and his Royal Highness , without however meaning it , and perhaps without knowing how much good he was effecting , has conferred a great benefit on tbe people , and sanctioned a most important principle . Adding his public services to his private virtues , we must conclude that few princes have in our time done so much good .
{ From the Somersetshire Gazette . ) A princely head has been bowed to the dust , ancl the trappings of mourning and of woe are seen throughout the land . The death of his Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex , is an event which , from tbe exalted position of his Royal Highness , as uncle to the reigning Sovereign , and the extent to which , during no inconsiderable portion of a long life , he occupied public attention , is one of some historic moment , and demands from the public journalist some comment on the character and career
of the deceased prince . It is the happy and generous characteristic of Englishmen that their antagonism is bounded by the grave;—that in speaking of a deceased opponent , how bitter soever may have been previous differences , the biographer seeks for every extenuating cause , desires to give prominence to virtues rather than to failings , and is ready to allow full weight to all The
operating circumstances of position , education , and associations . influence of such a spirit is especially desirable in estimating the character of those , who , being invested with the exclusiveness of royalty , have been subjected to the seductions of more and mightier temptations , and to the pressure of fewer restraints , than fall to the lot of the members of ordinary society . But this spirit , generous and honorable as is its exercise , must have its limits ; and to preserve the record from degenerating into the mere panegyric of sycophancy , it should be tempered by
the rigidities of truth and justice . That the Duke of Sussex , from the commencement of his public career , enjoyed a considerable share of popularity , more especially amongst certain classes and in certain circles , is a fact that will hardly be contested . This popularity is to be attributed to many causes . In political life his princiles were always of what is termed the " popular "
p cast : he was a staunch ancl consistent " liberal "; and it could not be otherwise than that a royal Whig , who went even to some ofthe extremes of "liberalism , " and who was fond of leading and of oratory , should receive a large share of the " popular " afflatus . His Royal Highness , however , had other and sounder claims to public estimation than those
to be found in his political predilections . Possessed of more than ordinary accomp lishments as a prince and a man , he was enabled to conduct his social intercourse with a facility of
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Character, Life, And Times Of His Late Royal. Highness , By The Public Press.
individual conscience is a better guide than enactments ; and his Royal Highness , without however meaning it , and perhaps without knowing how much good he was effecting , has conferred a great benefit on tbe people , and sanctioned a most important principle . Adding his public services to his private virtues , we must conclude that few princes have in our time done so much good .
{ From the Somersetshire Gazette . ) A princely head has been bowed to the dust , ancl the trappings of mourning and of woe are seen throughout the land . The death of his Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex , is an event which , from tbe exalted position of his Royal Highness , as uncle to the reigning Sovereign , and the extent to which , during no inconsiderable portion of a long life , he occupied public attention , is one of some historic moment , and demands from the public journalist some comment on the character and career
of the deceased prince . It is the happy and generous characteristic of Englishmen that their antagonism is bounded by the grave;—that in speaking of a deceased opponent , how bitter soever may have been previous differences , the biographer seeks for every extenuating cause , desires to give prominence to virtues rather than to failings , and is ready to allow full weight to all The
operating circumstances of position , education , and associations . influence of such a spirit is especially desirable in estimating the character of those , who , being invested with the exclusiveness of royalty , have been subjected to the seductions of more and mightier temptations , and to the pressure of fewer restraints , than fall to the lot of the members of ordinary society . But this spirit , generous and honorable as is its exercise , must have its limits ; and to preserve the record from degenerating into the mere panegyric of sycophancy , it should be tempered by
the rigidities of truth and justice . That the Duke of Sussex , from the commencement of his public career , enjoyed a considerable share of popularity , more especially amongst certain classes and in certain circles , is a fact that will hardly be contested . This popularity is to be attributed to many causes . In political life his princiles were always of what is termed the " popular "
p cast : he was a staunch ancl consistent " liberal "; and it could not be otherwise than that a royal Whig , who went even to some ofthe extremes of "liberalism , " and who was fond of leading and of oratory , should receive a large share of the " popular " afflatus . His Royal Highness , however , had other and sounder claims to public estimation than those
to be found in his political predilections . Possessed of more than ordinary accomp lishments as a prince and a man , he was enabled to conduct his social intercourse with a facility of