SHilreltanrouri.
The Countess of Durharn has resigned the office of Lady in Waiting to the Queen ; a very natural arid proper step, we should think, consi- dering the position in which her husband now stands in relation to the Court and the Ministry. The Morning Post pronounces a different judgment, and vents its disapprobation in a sneer- " Really this is a very ridiculous proceeding. It would be much better that men's wives were kept out of the political squabbles into which such statesmen as Lord Durham are so apt to fall. We suppose there was not much fear that the Countess of Durham would be commanded to the Palace, unless it were well understood that her Ladyship wished to go; and even if she did, we do not see why the lofty wrath of the fugacioua Lord, her husband, against the Queen's Ministers, should prevent her Ladyship from having the honour and pleasure of personally attending upon her Sovereign. In short, we see no dig- nity in this resignation, but the very reverse. To mix up affairs of State with affairs of the Bedchamber, where only ladies are concerned, seems to be a very frivolous mode of exhibiting a manly indignation."
But the "affairs of State" always have been and will be mixed up with " the affairs of the Bedchamber," as the Post very well knows. An office in the Household becomes a political office even when held by a lady, if her lord is a politician. It would be considered impru- dent, if not improper, to place the wife of an Opposition Lord in the Royal llousehold. And it is well understood that all connexion is not dissolved—that an opening is left for future accommodation and in- trigue—when a place in the Household is retained. The silken cords of courtly influence are only slackened, not snapped. Unless, then, Lord Dulharn wished to give the false impression that he was still pri- vately on good terms at Court and with the Ministers—or really de- sired to be on such terms—it was quite right that Lady Durham should resign. There was no " indignation " in the case, but a commendable prudence and caution. Lord Durham is now entirely his own master— not a declared enemy of the Government, but an independent man.
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