6 APRIL 1901, Page 2

In spite of persistent rumours, we do not think that

there is any great need for anxiety about Lord Salisbury's health. He has had an attack of influenza, but it has been of a mild kind; and he is now better and is going to the Riviera. No doubt he is not a very robust man, he must have been greatly tried by the war and the Queen's death, and though not old for a Prime Minister, he is no longer young. But though these conditions make an illness, slight in itself, a matter of some uneasiness, he has always shown an extraordinary power of recuperation when attacked by influenza. The indications, then, point to the Premier returning from his holiday in his usual vigour, and all speculations as to his retiring from public life on account of ill-health should be regarded with the utmost suspicion. Men of his age, constitution, and length of public service are apt to move along the line of least resistance, and that for a Prime Minister is seldem found in resignation.