Last Saturday it was announced that the Speaker was about
to resign the chair before the adjournment for Easter, —an announcement which has caused everywhere the deepest regret and something like consternation. No Speaker since the passing of the great Reform Bill has earned a greater reputation, not even Mr. Shaw-Lefevre, afterwards Lord Eversley, for he had to deal with relatively much easier conditions of Parliamentary warfare, and especially with a condition in which the multiplication of groups and the use of the Closure had not endangered the respect in which the Speaker's authority was held. Mr. Peel is universally admitted to have been not only in the highest sense dignified and impartial, but singularly successful in making even the noisiest groups of politicians in the House feel his authority and recognise the justice of his decisions. The choice of another Speaker will probably be determined next week. Amongst the candidates viewed with the greatest favour are Mr. Courtney, Mr. Campbell-Bannerman, Sir Matthew White Ridley, and Sir Julian Goldemid, of whom Mr. Campbell-Bannerman, if he does not refuse the office, has probably the best chance, though very little is known of his special qualifications for the position of a great Judge, except that he is generally liked, and a man of sterling sense. Mr. Courtney and Sir Julian Goldsmid have both acted con-
tinually as Chairman of Committees, and acted in that capacity with the greatest success ; while Sir Matthew White Ridley is Chairman of Quarter Sessions in Northumberland, and has been Under-Secretary of State for the Home Depart- ment and Financial Secretary to the Treasury, and it regarded by the whole Conservative party as possessed of a singularly able and weighty judgment.
