The announcement brought by the last South American mail, of
the death of Mr. Henry Southern, her Majesty's Minister at the Court of the Brazils, will cause a regretful pang to many. Mr. Southern first be- came known in the higher class of critical literature : he was one of the earlier editors of the Westminster Review, we believe he planned as well as edited the Retrospective Review ; and our own pages lost by his remo- val to diplomatic service under Sir George Villiers in Spain. Diplomacy had not destroyed the buoyant vigour of his intellect, as his friends could well see on his last visit to England, five years ago. The letters received by the mail give different versions of his death ; but the subjoined ac- count, sent to us by his nearest relative, is derived, we understand, from his secretary.
"Mr. Southern had been in his usual state of health, at the Legation in Rio, in the middle of the day on the 24th of January, when the heat was very great, and where he inhaled the poisonous atmosphere : in the evening, he returned to his country-house in an open carriage, exposed to the damp air; in the night he was taken extremely ill ; and he suf- fered very greatly during three days, till nature could resist no longer, and on the 28th he was relieved by death from further struggle. Thus has died in the service of his country, not only one of the ablest men in the department in which he was placed, but one who untiringly devoted the best energies of his large and liberal mind to the fulfilment of his duties. In private life, Mr. Southern was greatly beloved and respected for his very many amiable personal qualities and his varied learning and acquire- ments. He was educated at Cambridge, and was a Master of Arts of Trinity College. He afterwards became a member of the Middle
intending ntending to make the law his profession ; hut in 1833 he accompanied Mr. Villiers, now the Earl of Clarendon, then recently appointed Minister to Spain, as his private secretary. He was presently placed on the diplomatic staff; and after remaining some time at Madrid, was appointed Secretary of Legation at Lisbon. In 1848 he became Minister to the Argentine Confederation ; and in 1851 was transferred to the Court of the Brazils, and received the order of Companion of the Bath.
"On the 28th January, (the day of i death,) his body was conveyed to the Legation Rio, where the Royal hearse was n attendance with a large ca- valry escort : the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Under Secretary, all the Diplomatic Corps in town, and a large number of persons of distinction, formed the funeral procession from the house to the 'British burial-ground ; where the greater portion of the British residents and many Brazilians of high respectability awaited its arrival. The service was read by the English clergyman ; and on the body being lowered into the grave, the artillery and infantry fired the customary salutes. "Mr. Southern was fifty-four years of age."
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