Mr. Disraeli has filled up the vacant Lord-Chancellorship of Ireland
by appointing Dr. Ball, who takes a peerage, with, it is said, the title of "Lord Merton." Dr. Ball will make a fair Lord Chancellor, and we doubt if he will be a loss to the Tories in the House of Commons, where he spoke too much like an Orangeman. Mr. Ormsby becomes Attorney-General, and Mr. Plunket accepts the Solicitor-Generalship, with a proviso that he is to devote him- self mainly to political duties,—one of them, let us hope, being a thorough and economical revision of Irish legal appointments. An Irish judgeship at present, as compared with an English one, is almost a sinecure, and the number of Judges should be reduced one-half. Of course the local Bar will protest, but the local Bar has lost its influence in politics. There is plenty for an Irish Lord-Advocate to do, but he will have a good many masters—the Cabinet, the Viceroy, the Secretary for Ireland, and the Home Secretary—and will need, we should say, tact as well as debating Rower.
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