Wednesday was marked by two sudden deaths among persons of
some eminence, who were connected by the link that they had risen from nothing. Sir John Thompson, the Roman Catholic Premier of Canada, a man of forty-nine, on that day attended at Windsor to be sworn in of the Privy Council, and afterwards lunched at the Castle. It is probable that the distinction roused in him a great, though concealed, excitement, for as he sat down to his meal he lurched forward, and in a few moments expired. The cause of death was, of course, a failure of the heart. He had been leader of the Conservatives since the death of Sir J. A. Macdonald, and like him was marked by his fidelity to the Empire, and his desire that the Dominion should continue its career without entering the United States. On the same day, at eight in the morning, M. Burdeau, President of the French Chamber of Deputies, died in his bed mainly of weak- ness of the heart's action. Born in 1851, he was originally a carpenter's apprentice ; but his fellow-townsmen sub- scribed to secure him an education, and he rose to a Professorship, which he quitted only to enter public life. His reputation was made at the Labour Congress called by the German Emperor, and stood so high that nothing but his health prevented his becoming Premier, or even President of the French Republic. He was a sound finan- cier, an able politician, and one of the few public men in France known to be absolutely incorruptible. His loss will be a great one; and will be especially felt by M. Casimir- Wrier, who trusted him entirely ; while it may not be without international importance, for, unlike many of his party, he was friendly to England, and believed a good understanding with her to be essential to France.
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