We deeply regret to record the death on January 11th
of Count Alexandre Benckendorff, the able and popular Russian Ambassador in London. He had lived here since 1903, and had co-operated most assiduously in the building up of the friendship between Russia and Great Britain, which, next to the Entente with France, has been the most important and welcome diplomatic development of this century. Count Benckendorff spoke our language so well that ho was often mistaken for an Englishman, and he entered heartily into the unofficial schemes for promoting the study of Russian and for encouraging closer intercourse between the two Empires. Another prominent man who passed away this week was Admiral Dewey, who, with an American cruiser squadron, destroyed the Spanish squadron in Manila Bay on May 1st, 1898, and dealt firmly with an intrusive German Admiral who showed an inclination to disregard the blockade. Admiral Dewey, who was seventy-nine, remained till his death President of the American Navy Board. We must also note the death of Mr. William de Morgan at the age of seventy-seven. The son of Augustus de Morgan, the 'mathematician, he made an artistic reputation with his charming lustred tiles in the " seventies" and " eighties." In 1906 he astonished the public by publishing his first novel, Joseph Vance, and followed itwith half-a-dozen other long and interesting stories which attained a considerable popularity.
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