The secret as to Mr. Bright's successor is well kept,
if there is at present any secret to keep. But a change in the subor- dinate offices has been made public. Mr. Otway has resigned the Under-Secretaryship for Foreign Affairs, and Lord En- field,—notable for speeches on the Volunteer question,—has accepted it in his place. Mr. Otway was something of a Dun- dreary at the Foreign Office, and we do not suppose he will be a substantial loss. On the other hand, we do not suppose Lord Enfield will be a substantial gain. In 1865-66 he was Parlia- mentary Secretary to the Poor Law Board, and no one ever heard of him. We could have understood making him Under-Secretary for War, but why for Foreign Affairs? On what principle are these smaller offices distributed ?—on the principle apparently of putting square men into round lioles, and round men into square holes. If there is a subject Mr. Grant Duff knows well, it is foreign affairs, so he is, of course, devoted to India. Lord Enfield would be intelligible at the War Office, and is devoted to Foreign affairs. Mr. Monsen understands Ireland, and Is devoted to the Colonies. Mr. Snatchbull-Hugessen, after being educated for six years in the Treasury, is made Under-Secretary for the Home Department. In the higher offices too much specialty may be undesirable, but it is surely well for Under- Secretaries of State to learn what they already know something about, rather than what they know nothing about.
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