8 JULY 1865, Page 1

The choice of a successor to Lord Westbury has been

a little unfortunate. The Premier, either unwilling to remove Sir- Roundel' Palmer from the House of Commons, or failing to per- suade him to accept the burden of a peerage, has offered the Great Seal to Lord Cranworth, one of the four past Lord Chancellors, a man of the '...ghest character, but not famous as an equity lawyer, seventy-five years of age, rather feeble, and by no means a very earnest law reformer. He is apparently expected to clean out the Augean stable, and may do it efficiently, but it is difficult, when we consider the number of younger men around, not to suspect Lord Pahnerston of a slightly cynical motive—an inclination to see whether the public will greatly prefer character without genius

to genius without character. •