NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE Ministry is still in the crucible, and no one can yet affirm what the out-turn will be—most probably a mixed metal. In the beginning of the week it was announced with some show of authority that the Duke of Somerset had resigned, but this was contradicted, though the Duke, like his colleagues, placed his appointment at Her Majesty's disposal. Earl De Grey's seat also has been menaced, and the accident to Sir Charles Wood may possibly create a vacancy in the Cabinet, Sir Charles having received a shock which may dispose a man of sixty-five to a less active part in political affairs. Nothing has yet been settled, but the drift both of opinion and of events is towards the adoption of at least two Radicals into the Cabinet, one of whom would fill the Indian Secretariat. Mr. Bright has been seriously named for this office, an idea which, as we have shown elsewhere will, if carried out, alienate from the Ministry a large section of its supporters. The squires, Whig and Tory, fear Mr. Bright too much, and no administration it is just now possible to form can be quite inde- pendent of the squires.
