The testimony borne to the manliness, the courtesy, the grace,
and the wisdom of Lord Granville, when the House of Lords met on Tuesday for the first time after his death, was something quite unique for the energy, and we may truly say the thrill of emotion, with which it was delivered. Lord Salisbury was unfortunately absent, but Lord Cranbrook took his place in a speech of singular depth and sincerity of feel- ing. Lord Kimberley almost broke down in his attempt to express his sense of the great personal loss which he had suffered; Lord. Derby was emphatic in his testimony to Lord Granville's earnestness in keeping the Upper House in touch with the House of Commons ; and Lord Selborne, speaking for the Duke of Argyll (who was kept away by illness) as well as for himself, bore the most impressive witness to Lord Granville's singular influence over his colleagues, and his unflinching loyalty to them. To this the Duke of Argyll himself referred emphatically in his letter to Thursday's Times, declaring that Lord Granville took care that the foreign policy of the Government, when he administered it, should always represent the collective mind of the Cabinet, even more perfectly than it represented his own. This, in the Duke of Argyll's opinion, was a great merit, even though it sometimes had the effect of diluting or even weakening the character of Lord Granville's policy. There we confess to grave doubts. But even if the collective foreign policy of the Liberal Cabinet Was less significant and less effective than the foreign policy of so shrewd a statesman as Lord Granville acting for himself would have been, that only shows the singular loyalty and disinterestedness of his public character and career.
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