Lord Randolph Churchill, the leading figure amongst the Tory Democrats,
and perhaps the most effective of the plat- form orators among the men of official rank, has returned to England this week suffering from general paralysis, one of the most formidable diseases from which the brain can suffer. The bulletins, though they appeared to be a shade more favour- able on Thursday, give hardly any hope of recovery, and we do not suppose that any such hope is seriously entertained. Lord Randolph's official career, brilliant as it was, was cut short by his rather hasty retirement from office in December, 1886, and Mr. Goschen's substitution in his place,—which of course left him out in the cold during almost the whole of the period of Lord Salisbury's Government. Lord Randolph has very
brilliant qualities, but he needed the bridle of official responsi- bility, and he committed an error in attempting prematurely to take the bit between his teeth. The sad condition in which he lies excites, as we need hardly say, universal regret and a very keen feeling of public sympathy.
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