We regret deeply to notice the death of Lord Carnarvon,
which occurred on Saturday, at the age of fifty-nine. He was one of the few remaining statesmen of the old fad thorough culture. A much better scholar than the late Lord Derby, he had read much, seen much, and thought much, and had arrived at conclusions, usually moderate and practicable, for himself, a fact which somrimes made him difficult to work with, and was the ultimate cause of his frequent resig- nations. He was not a strong Minister in all departments, but he had much capacity for understanding men, and wherever thoughtfulness and breadth of view could help him, as in his federation of British North America, he was unusually successful. That was his great administrative feat, and we question if his plan for South Africa would have failed, but for the antagonism between the English and Boer races, for which he never made sufficient allowance, and which, indeed, he believed to be disappearing. His idea in his dealings with Mr. Parnell has never been made quite clear, though no one who knew him doubted that his account of it, denied by the Irish leader, was entirely accurate; but he was a warm friend to the Irish, and perhaps the only man in his order who, not being coerced thereto by official position, believed that Home- rule, which, however, he never precisely formulated, could be made to work. His plan, we imagine, was to make Ireland a free Colony, paying for its own garrison, and subject to effective control from the Queen's representative. He was a man of spotless integrity, as well as deep though unobtrusive piety, and his dislike of immoderateness in counsel, as well as his wide range of knowledge, would, had, his health but lasted, have made him once more valuable in any Conservative Cabinet.
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