We regret to perceive from the Lancet that Mr. Childers
remains seriously ill, that he has lost nerve-power from overwork, the pressure of his former disease, and griefat thepublie amidomeetie consequences of the loss of the Captain. He needi§ rest for recovery—three months'• rest, the Lancet• saye—andi on. Thursday' the Times announced his resignation. This was promptly and officially denied, and if an invention intended as a hint to Mr. Childers, was certainly a most cruel one. It is more probable, however, that the Times was deceived by a premature report, for great as the loss to the Ministry and the country would be, it is nearly impossible for them to meet Parliament without a First Lord. The conditions of public life are sometimes maliciously cruel, but so are sometimes the laws of nature, and to begin a Defences Session with no chief for the Admiralty present in Parlia- ment, and with Mr. Cardwell as chief for the Army, seems to be tempting fate. It is just possible—we know nothing about it— that the Times has for once run athwart one of the few immovable etiquettea of English political life,—that the Queen is never to hear first of Ministerial changes through the papers.
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