LAST TEAR’S DEATH ROLL.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVI, Issue 16749, 2 January 1915, Page 8

LAST TEAR’S DEATH ROLL.

Death lias been so busy in Europe during the past five months that it would be a stupendous task even to attempt to compile a list of the notable people lost to the world, but it is of interest to recall the names of one or two of the great men who died last yoar. The war was in no small measure responsible for the illness that terminated tho life of Pius X., a gentle, lovable p»ldi| whose whole exirtewa,

had been devoted to tho unselfish service of the people. It is said that ho owed his elevation to the fact that tho College failed to decide between tho claims of moro stronuous politicians, but beyond question the choice proved a wise one. The reign was ono of quiet progress and consolidation, though it was not without its “questions” to cause agitation both in tho Vatican and abroad. Pius X. will be remembered, above all things, for his intense lovo of the people, his unfailing sympathy with tho poor and suffering and his impress* sivo simplicity.

Tho year has brought severo trials to many monarchs, but the death of the King of Rumania could not bo directly or indirectly attributed to the war. It was confidently predicted in some quarters that the removal of the King’s influence would bo followed by an early entry of Rumania into the war on the sido of the Entente, but it is beginning to he ovident that Rumania’s part is to preservo the status quo in the Balkans as far as may be, and tho latest pronouncement on tho subject declares that the Entente Powers will be well satisfied if Rumania succeeds in keeping Bulgaria quiet. King Charles was a prince of HohenzollernSigmarigon, and therefore a relative of tho Kaiser. His sympathies were markedly with Germany. Rumania found him an able and progressive ruler, and sho owes not a little of her advance in prosperity and strength to his guidance.

It is not to bo forgotten that the origin of tho great war must be traced directly to the assassination of a prince. Tho murder of tho Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria and of his wife was one of the most shocking crimes of the -century. That it was due to a Serb agitation no ono doubts and there was a strong disposition among many students of Servia to believe that this anti-Austrian agitation was encouraged by a Serb Government and that Servia undoubtedly deserved punishment. But nations cannot be punished as individuals may be, and the Austrian attempt to chastise the little nation has sot all Europe ablaze. The Archduke was said to be intensely conservative in domestic politics, but tho party to which ho belonged, or, rather, which attached itself to him, was distinctly aggressive in foreign politics, and he was supposed to be the leader of the movement for pushing Austrian influence in the Balkans. That supposition unquestionably impelled the Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina to regard him, ns an enemy, and it helps one to understand why he became the victim of the brutal crime.

Britain, during the year, lost two of her most eminent men. To Joseph Chamberlain, more than to any other man, is due the awakening of a truly Imperial spirit. In a long and always striking political career ho played many parts, commencing as a Radi-cal-Republican, and ending as the bulwark of Conservatism, and repeatedly lie laid himself open to. the charge of inconsistency. But ho frankly accepted .the designation of opportunist. It was not until he took charge of the Colonial Office that his masterly mind found the opportunity it needed, and it is as the greatest of Colonial Secretaries that ho will be remembered. Tho breakdown that ended his political career was due, beyond doubt, to the tremendous task that ho undertook when ho set out to win the United Kingdom over to protection. Ho, did not under-esti-mate the magnitude of the work, but he over-estimated Iris own strength, and the agitation which he initiated, and which seemed likely to create a new division of parties in the Old Country, collapsed as soon as tho chief mover disappeared from tho platform. Mr Chamberlain was a great statesman, whose genius was late in finding adequate expression. . ■. Another of the Empire’s great men, Lord Roberts, died dramatically in France, whither he had gone to inspect .the British and Indian troops at tho front. Lord Roberts’s death is so recent that its circumstances do not need .to be recalled, but it. was in keeping with his whole life that he should dio, if not on active service, at least within sound of the guns. His place as a soldier will be estimated by another generation. It may be said, however, that no man more truly had the soldierly spirit. From his earliest days in the Army lie deemed it a privilege to be where the fighting was hottest and where the need for help was most urgent. In his autobiography lie records his fear lest ho should not arrive at the front in time to participate in a gallant action against overwhelming odds. It never occurred to him that he might spare himself, whether in the supervision of operations or in the execution of orders from his superior officers. From first to last of his long military career his sole aim was to give to his country the last ounce of his strength, and therein lay not the least of the secrets of his distinguished success. 1 Of the men prominent in politics who died during the year the names of Lord Knutsford, who was Colonial Secretary from 1887 to 1892, and Sir J. Henniker Heaton, the postal reformer, call for special mention. Among tho great colonists was Lord Strathcona, the Scot who wont out to Canada in the service of the Hudson Bay Company ns a boy, and who, after passing through all the grades of the company’s service, used fyis great gifts nls an pngonija'r and administrator in the development of the wide wasto spaoes of the Dominion. South Africa lost her Chief Justice, Lord do Villiers, who, forty years ago, had been Attorney-General cf Capo Colony. ’ Peerages do not often come the way of colonials, but Lord de Villiers had beta knighted thirty yearn ago, and

his barony was tho reward of long and distinguished services to his country. Tho death roll includes, .also, Sir John Tenniel, tho famous “Punch” artist, Mr Watts Dunton, the friend of ltosetti and Swinburne, Mr Lawrence Irving, the actor who was drowned in tho Empress of Ireland disaster, and Madame Nordica, tho American enntatrice. The Duke of Argyle, though ho sat .in tho House of Commons for a space aud was subsequently GovernorGeneral of Canada, found his main interest rather in letters. Mr Bennet Burleigh, the war correspondent, belonged essentially to journalism. Abroad tho distinguished men who departed included Louis Kossuth, tho Hungarian lender, M. Jaures, tho French Socialist, and M. Bertillon, the anthropologist and criminologist. M. Jaures was murdered by a madman in the midst of tho international crisis, and at tho timo it was believed that his death was not unconnected with the war fever, but the investigation did not bear out that suggestion. Paul Deroulede, the French Nationalist and poot of war, did not live to see his country enter upon a life and death struggle that lie had always considered inevitable. In America the most distinguished of the departed citizens was Admiral Mahan, tho naval historian who, with clear insight, analysed the influence of sea power on the history of Europe and virtually revolutionised the wliolo study of the international relations of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

One or two of the public men of this Dominion are numbored with the fallen. The Hon William Montgomery, of course, had been _ out of harness for a good many years, but his valiant championship of tho truest Liboralism had bj* no means been forgotten by tho community. Not many links with tho days when Sir George Grey and his earnest colleagues were striving for the full rights of the people now remain unbroken. The Hon Thomas Duncan, tho friend and follower of Sir John M’Konzio, was another of the stalwarts of these brave days. When the great land reformer was lost to New Zealand, it was to Mr Duncan that the leader of the Liberals turned* to fill the vacant office. Mr Kennedy Macdonald’s political . activities commenced, too, long before he camo prominently before the public, and the political career of tho Hon Thomas Fergus, one of the leaders of tho old Conservative group, was virtually confined to the eighties of last century. Such men deserve to have their memories honoured. It was no accident of political fortune that brought them into prominence, and of them, as of many public men still living and serving their country, it may be said that tho recompense they received from tho nation was far from adequate’ for the service they rendered.