Mr. Bright, in his speech at Birmingham the other day,—tho
finest and most touching part of which we have noticed else- where,—explained that he had declined to accept the Secretary- ship for India because the time was not yet ripe for carrying out his own views,—with regard, we suppose, to the division of the Government into four separate administrations independent of each other,—and because he should be identified with an organi- zation lie did not approve, if be accepted the responsibility of working the present system. He also expressed his semi-religious reluctance to identify himself iu any way with the great military services of India. lie added that he had accepted the Board of Trade because he thought he might there do some little good, and " perhaps prevent some harm." We fear that this means that Mr. Bright intends to prevent the use of the Board of Trade for
constructive_purposes,—for auditing railway accounts, managing the. telegraphs or railways, and many other such urgently needed duties. We hops our surmise may be wrong. But Mr. Bright has always been as superstitiously fearful of the mere name of Government intervention as the teetotalers are of alcohol, or the Hindoos of beef.
