Lord Metcalfe has at last quitted his post in Canals.
Unable to resist the ravages of disease, and desirous of escaping a winter's impilio.nicent at a distance from the medic's' resources of London, he has come away, by permission, without waiting the appointment of a successor. His de- parture was made under the most affecting circumstances. He carries with him to the sick-mom the good wishes of another province:: for whereas many men, by their simplicity of purpose and high-minded 'integ- rity, are glad to earn individual respect, Lord Metcalfe may be said to bon won the esteem and- love of. whole communities. The emotions swalledi shook his frame on quitting the Canadian soil, terrible as they must have been for that feeble frame to endure, are evidence of the lively sense that be has of those relations; though to men who have lived less public lives the intercourse with communities must be like a vague abstraction. With Lord Metcalfe it is evidently the reverse: the term " fatherly " is no cold metaphor to him; and with the pains he feels the solace of such relations.
But although Lord Metcalfe's administration in Canada has happily not tarnished the high repute which he earned elsewhere, it must not be forgotten that he has settled nothing. Under his quiescent rule, animosi- ties have been tempered by time; but the elements of discord remain un- resolved. On the other hand, the state of affairs beyond the border of the colony is such as to make the proper administration of Canada at this juncture a matter of the utmost delicacy. It is a sense of the importance, probably, which has suggested to common rumour in the colony two emi- nent persons as likely to succeed the late Governor-General,—Sir Henry Pottinger, and Earl St. Germains. The occasion is so momentous, that nobody will venture to diminish the responsibility of the Imperial Govern-
ment by recommending a successor. • It is so momentous, as to make the choice of the Minister for the Colonial Department in Downing Street a matter of far more than usual consideration. We want the best man that the country can afford: at least let us have neither an idler nor a firebrand.
