On Saturday last the honours bestowed on the advice of
the departing Ministry were announced to the world. Sir Michael Hicks Beach becomes a Viscount, and Mr. Ritchie, Sir William Walrond, Sir Henry Meysey-Thompson, Sir Henry de Stern, Sir Alfred Harmsworth, Mr. Edmund Beckett Faber, and Mr. W. H. Grenfell, Barons. The first two peerages in- dicate, we presume, reconciliation with Mr. Balfour's policy. The others are given on the grounds on which the majority of peerages have always been given; that is, they are given, and quite legitimately, for party loyalty and party services. We are bound to say, however, that in the case of Sir Henry de Stern the nature of these services is entirely bidden from the public eye. The only facts that the Times is able to state in regard to Sir Henry de Stern are that he was made a Baronet last June and has been High Sheriff of Surrey,—interesting facts, but hardly enough to account for the creation of a peerage. Sir Edward Carson, Mr. J. S. Sandars (Mr. Balfour's private secretary), Mr. Victor Cavendish, Sir Charles Dalrymple, and Colonel Lockwood become Privy Councillors, and eleven gentlemen receive baronetcies. The Knights number fifteen, including Mr. H. E. Moss, of Moss's Empires, Limited. The honours have been very severely criticised, but we cannot honestly say that we find that they differ very much from those distributed under like conditions on previous occasions.
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