The death of Earl Stanhope on December 24th does not
affect politics, except so far as the elevation of Lord Mahon causes a vacancy in East Suffolk, but the deceased peer was a man of mark in literature, and he will be regretted by every Association -with which he came in contact. As a historian, he was a pains- taking. and generally impartial man, with considerable insight into character, and a style which, though occasionally ponderous, is never tiresome. As a Committee-man, he was quite perfect, master 'of a tact which might, had he chosen, have made him influential in Cabinet& He hada way of making recalcitrant members follow his lead without knowing it which was delightful, and especially so when they all thought they were getting their own way, which, unless their Why was his, they very seldom did. He never gave way if he could help it, but he had a knack of intervening, just when everything was getting confused, with a proposal which everybody could accept, or at all events, endure, but which .always embodied precisely the line of action he had always intended to pursue.
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