To the letter of Lord Lingen, mentioned in our last
impression,. on Sir Robert Hamilton's position, Sir Thomas Farrer added, in an able letter to Saturday's Times, a fresh protest against any precedent which would interfere with the great principle that Civil servants are not to be molested for their political views unless they break the rule of reticence which keeps those views a strictly private affair of their own, and so enables them to serve either party in the State with equal effect. It is clear that Sir Robert Hamilton never broke that rule, and that it was the eagerness of his chiefs to justify themselves by his authority which alone rendered his bias towards Home-rule a matter of general notoriety. This is the best reason in the world for treating Sir Robert Hamilton with all the honour he deserves ; but under the present circumstances of Irish feeling and Irish hopes, it is not a reason for keeping a notable Home- ruler in command of the very springs of Irish government. It is a misfortune, no doubt, that his views should have been published to the world ; but that misfortune makes it most desirable that he should not remain where all sorts of conjectures and expecta- tions will be founded on his remaining. It is rumoured that Lord Salisbury's Government has no intention of shifting him to a higher office. If that be so, we hold that Lord Salisbury's Government will have committed its first serious blunder.
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