At home, Lord Canning has been taking leave of the
Court of Directors in a speech full of aspirations for peace and for the im- provement of the vast dominions over which he is to rule. The news from India is now so peaceful as to promise the realiza- tion of these often-deferred hopes. Better, perhaps, than absolute tranquillity, the Nepaulese are expending in a war with Thibet a martial eagerness which might otherwise give us trouble. Lord Palmerston has not found a successor to Lord Canning at the Post-office, nor has he decided to do without one, and put a work- ing man into the place. Sir Benjamin Hall's late office, too is still unfilled ; and, what is far more important, the choice Of a Commander-in-chief in the Crimea has not yet been made. Those persons who pretended in Lord Raglan's lifetime to exalt General Simpson at his expense, have been sufficiently confuted by that officer's confession that Lord Raglan's task would be too heavy for him. If the merits of the late Field-Marshal had not been under- stood before, the difficulty now felt in filling his place would have shown them in the strongest light.
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