LAST DAYS OF LORD BEACONS FIELD.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2540, 12 May 1881, Page 2

LAST DAYS OF LORD BEACONS FIELD.

A cable special to the " New York World” from London of the 2nd April is as follows Lord Beaconsfield is still in a very precarious state. He is weak and exhausted from acute suffering and his strength of will alone enables him to hold out against the concentration of ailments with which he is afflicted. ; He is still engrossed in public affairs and persists in attending to matters of business, which always press upon the leader of a party in or out of office.;He is anxious to see his old private secretary, Lord Eowton, for the purpose of giving him instructions regarding his memoirs and private papers. These are of incalculable value, from a historical point of view, and Lord Beaconsfield has spent a great deal of his time since he retired from office in putting them into shape. They may be said to embrace the secret history of English politics for the last half century. Lord Eowton, who possesses the dumbness of an oyster, is the only man in England, except the author, who has been favored with & view of this precious collection, and it is generally understood that they will not be published until at least ten years after Lord Beaconsfield’s removal from the scene. They deal largely, of course with men now living, and their premature publication would be as gross a blunder as _ Froudo’s publication of Carlyle’s Eeminiscences. His Lordship has a strong objection, amounting almost to a superstition, to keeping his bed, and is now propped up on pillows in the drawing room. He is quite aware that it is a toss up whether he lives or dies, but to outward appearance he is the most unconcerned man in the chamber. He is always ready with a mot for the doctors, and positively refuses to allow them to call in a third physician. Dr. Quinn said to-day that his Lordship has visibly improved since the critical period on Thursday. His life greatly depends on the east wind. If it continues his chance is very poor. The doctors forbade him to touch business as soon as they were called, but he has more faith in himself than in anybody else in the world, and sends for Lord Barrington every morning to read the newspapers for him, and give him all the current political gossip. He takes great interest in the proceedings of Parliament on the Transvaal peace, and sent his congratulations to Lord Cairns, who made a slashing attack on the “ peace at any price ” policy on Thursday night.