THE BRITISH CABINET.

Evening Post, Volume LX, Issue 108, 3 November 1900, Page 4

THE BRITISH CABINET.

After all, Lord Salisbury has decided to give up the Foreign Office, but the relief he gains will be somewhat dearly bought at the expense of the general dissatisfaction that greets the appointment of Lord Lansdowne as his successor. Lord Lansdowne proved a weak administrator at the War, Office, and the chief charge against him was his deference to the wishes of "smart society." Such deference may not prove so disastrous in diplomatic as in military appointments, especially in these days when an Ambassador tends more and' more to become on exalted clerk at the end of a telegraph wire, but this very dependence of diplomatists upon the Foreign Office demands that a particularly able chief should be at the other end of the wire. It may be that Lord Salisbury, while divesting himself of the routine work of the Foreign Office, intemdg to keep in his own hands the direction of the more intricate negotiations he understands so well. Lord LansdoAvne is a recognised leader of society, arid a great territorial magnate, and his claim to office could not well i/e overlooked, but it is to be regretted that Lord Salisbury did not find for him a post ,of less responsibility than that of Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. Lord Lansdown© is to be succeeded at , the War Office by Mr. St. John Brodrick, who is undoubtedly one of the ablest of the younger members of the Unionist party. He, it will be remembered, fired the "cordite mine" which shattered the last Ciberal Administration, and he, like Lord Curzon of Kedlestone, and the present Lord Selborne, has loudly expressed his dislike bf 'having in due time to inherit the ancestral seat in the House of Lords. He is industrious and thorough, and may develop unexpected powers when he is, at the head of the military administration. Tho other two Cabinet appointments announced in to-day's cable messages are those otf" Mr. Ritchie to the Home Office, and^ Loifl Selborne to the Admiralty. Mr. Ritchie is a hard-headed man of business, utterly devoid of brilliancy, and will make a painstaking Home Secretary, while Lord Selborne, who is a special protege of Mr. Chajnbei'laiav belongs to the younger generation, and is comparatively speaking untried. The Cabinet will not be greatly strengthened by* these changes, and thejy will probably be severely criticised by Ministerialists as well as Oppositionists.