We record, with a regret which is not conventional, the
death of Mr. John Walter, the principal proprietor and manager-in-chief of the Times. He was the third of a line which, for a hundred years, has possessed a certain initiative in making and declaring English opinion; and it is high praise to say that he was worthy of that unique position and that long tradition. Personally, we imagine, an old Whig by conviction, he throughout his long career upon every subject but one exercised a moderating influence of the highest value, the exception being Irish politics, in dealing with which his writers have been allowed to display too freely a natural but unwise sensation of disgust. We have to live with the Irish for ever, whatever their freaks may be. In his public capacity, Mr. Walter made but one grave mistake, and usually, though not always, displayed the kingly faculty, an admirable power of choosing instru- ments and advisers ; while in private life his intimates declare that his virtues, more especially his integrity, were most unusual in degree. He was, in truth, a man of rare character and much force, placed in a position which no one else in the world quite occupies, and which we have elsewhere endeavoured to describe. He died on Saturday at Bearwood of the rather unusual disease called purpura, or internal hemorrhage, from weakened veins.
