Mr. Bright's resignation was announced on Tuesday. It had long
been known that there was but little hope of any such re- covery as would enable him to resume Ministerial work before the beginning of the ensuing session, and, therefore, his resignation was only postponed by the entreaties of the Prime Minister and his colleagues that he would first exhaust every possibility on the other side. The official announcement is, that "it is on all grounds, whether of foreign or of domestic policy, a matter of sincere regret to Mr. Bright to sever the official tie between him- self and the Administration." That is very possibly true ; but would, of course, be said in the case of a resignation strictly grounded on ill-health, whether it was true or not. We have ex- pressed elsewhere our deep sense of the great Parliamentary and even Ministerial value of Mr. Bright. But we confess that our confidence in the existing foreign policy of the Government, not particularly strong at best, would not be the stronger for his con- tinued presence in the Cabinet.
