The Express.
London, England, 1866-02-06 00:00:00

FRI IMISIONAIION OF KR OSAMU WOOD.

The Tines meninx' that Sir Charlie Wood, fearing
lest from impaired health he should be asequal to the
discharge in the House of Commons of the menu and
responsible duties devolving epos the fleoretary of State
far India, retires tram that office, though not from public
life. For all the work of his office Sir Charles Wood was
serer more competent—what he fears, or rather what Ws
physicians fear for him, is the heat sad excitement of psi-
Bement. The Tines then esonterstre the services which the
right boo. gent/omen has reederedAnring the 40 years he has
est in parliament, discharging is Dominion the offices of
the Secretaryship of the Treasury, Secretary to the
Admiralty, Chancellor of the Exchequer, President of the
Board of Control, First Lord of the Admiralty, end Secre-
tary for India. Than is, in the opinion of the Times, so
public man of theday who has received leis jostles from He
contemporaries. Endowed with extraordinary quickness
of apprehensioa, a retentive memory, a clear heed,
a leered intellect, and a mind adapted for the trans-
action of business, Sir Charles Wood was in many rtspec's
the very model of an able, efficient, sod hardworking
minister. He is • sated political economist. and possesses,
from his long and varied experience, a knowledge of basi-
nss in all its breaches equal to that of any statemen of
the day. Ia the cabinet it is well known that hie expe-
rience, readiness, and good senor were of the utmost
envies ; and whatever department In bar presidol
over has always become conscious that it was in
the bends of an able, hones:, and indefatigable
administrator. One defect in his character was,
that endowed with a keen ernes of the ludicrous and
the incongruous, he has often said things which out far
more deeply than was istended, but the more prominent
deficiency was his want of oratorical power, which rendered
him unequal to the encounter of much inferior men. In the
heeds of Mr. Gladstone, his financial propositions when
Chancellor of the Exchequer, would have passed by stela-
mation, but from mere want of oratorical power Sir Charles
Wood was compelled, over and over again, to take them
back and remodel them, often vs ry much for the worse.
So we have seen him only last year defeated on a motion
with regard to the Inane army, on which most unpreju-
diced persons who only read the debate considered that he
was quite in the right. The time, however, has now come
when we may hope that the public, remembering that it is
not by speech but by action that great results are attained,
will do justice to their rid and faithful servant. The pest
which he has filled is perhaps the weirbtiest Last that an
English antennas can be charged with, and the best proof of
the solid merits of his administration w"1 be found when
we come to look for one who shall fill his place. The Times
knows no one in the ranks of the present government who
can present himself with say coofideocs as a worthy BIM
minor. Sir Charles Wood'e character sod h'a leftism*, are
more deeply impressed on the destiny of India thee those
of say of his predecessors, and the new era which he hes
founded in the East will entitle him, probably, to • more
durable place in history than will be allotted to many men
of mere brilliant but len solid a quireinents.
The Herald says that Mr. Lanni is "talked of " for the
vacant effie r.