Lord Loreburn has resigned the Lord Chancellorship owing to ill-health
and is succeeded by Lord Haldane, the vacancy at the War Office being filled by the promotion of Colonel Seely, who has held the Under-Secretaryship for the last year. Whether Colonel Seely will succeed as a military administra- tor only time can show; but, at any rate, he starts with one very considerable advantage. He knows the British soldier and his needs and aspirations at first hand. Again, he is a man who is quick to learn and is full of energy. He will not let things slide, and he will not be afraid of coming to a decision. The danger for him, indeed, is that be may decide too rapidly. The regard in which Lord Loreburn is held by moderate men on both sides was admirably expressed in the speeches of Lord Crewe and Lord Lansdowne in the House of Lords on Tuesday. He had won not merely the respect, but in a great measure the affection of the House as a whole. Lord Crewe happily applied to him the words of Vergil: justissimue onus Qui fuit in Teucris, at servantissimus aequi, and Lord Lansdowne spoke in words of well-merited admiration of the determined manner in which Lord.Loreburn had set his face against the attempts to connect appointments to the local benches with party politics. Lord Haldane's elevation to the Lord Chan- cellorship has been very well received, for if it be true that inter arma silent leges, his distinguished career at the Bar is of excellent augury for the future. Of his great constructive work at the War Office it is impossible to speak adequately
within the compass of a short note. We have often criticised his unfounded optimism ; we are glad once more to bear witness to his remarkable industry, tact, and pertinacity.
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