The closing scenes in the life of the statesman have been described in pathetic terms by his brother-in-law, Dean Stanley.[25] The intelligence that the illness was mortal “was received with a calmness and fortitude which never deserted him” through all the scenes which followed.  He displayed “in equal degrees, and with the most unvarying constancy, two of the grandest elements of human character—­unselfish resignation of himself to the will of God, and thoughtful consideration down to the smallest particulars, for the interests and feelings of others, both public and private.”  When at his own request, Lady Elgin chose a spot for his grave in the little cemetery which stands on the bluff above the house where he died, “he gently expressed pleasure when told of the quiet and beautiful aspect of the place chosen, with the glorious view of the snowy range towering above, and the wide prospect of hill and plain below.”  During this fatal illness he had the consolation of the constant presence of his loving wife, whose courageous spirit enabled her to overcome the weakness of a delicate constitution.  He died on November 20th, 1863, and was buried on the following day beneath the snow-clad Himalayas.[26]

If at any time a Canadian should venture to this quiet station in the Kangra valley, let his first thought be, not of the sublimity of the mountains which rise far away, but of the grave where rest the remains of a statesman whose pure unselfishness, whose fidelity to duty, whose tender and sympathetic nature, whose love of truth and justice, whose compassion for the weak, whose trust in God and the teachings of Christ, are human qualities more worthy of the admiration of us all than the grandest attributes of nature.

None of the distinguished Canadian statesmen who were members of Lord Elgin’s several administrations from 1847 until 1854, or were then conspicuous in parliamentary life, now remain to tell us the story of those eventful years.  Mr. Baldwin died five years before, and Sir Louis Hypolite LaFontaine three months after the decease of the governor-general of India, and in the roll of their Canadian contemporaries there are none who have left a fairer record.  Mr. Hincks retired from the legislature of Canada in 1855, when he accepted the office of governor-in-chief of Barbadoes and the Windward Islands from Sir William Molesworth, colonial secretary in Lord Palmerston’s government, and for years an eminent advocate of a liberal colonial policy.  This appointment was well received throughout British North America by Mr. Hincks’s friends as well as political opponents, who recognized the many merits of this able politician and administrator.  It was considered, according to the London Times, as “the inauguration of a totally different system of policy from that which has been hitherto pursued with regard to our colonies.”  “It gave some evidence,” continued the same paper, “that the more distinguished among our fellow-subjects in the colonies may feel