Mr. W. H. Smith has not been in his place
since the Whitsuntide vacation, and it is announced that he is suffering from eczema, and is only the worse instead of the better for his Whitsuntide cruise. Still, it is hoped that he will soon resume his place in the House of Commons; but the House of Commons is hardly a place in which to recruit strength sapped by so exhausting a foe as eczema, and we fear that before long his tact, his temper, and his practical sagacity will be lost to the Government in the Lower House. The loss will be serious, for though Mr. W. H. Smith may be useful enough as a Peer, there are plenty of Peers who can do what is needful, and there are very few Commoners who present so little surface to hostile feeling, and who gauge the sense of the House so accurately, as the First Lord of the Treasury. He is not a sensitive man, and yet he is not in any respect an obtuse man. He can discern what others would shrink from encountering, and yet not shrink from encountering it.
