Of the success of Mr. Bruce's administration at the Home Office, different and conflicting opinions are inevitably entertained. The post is one of great importance. Its holder stands above every other Secretary of State. He is the Minister who follows next after the First Lord of the Treasury. He is virtually the governor of Great Britain. But really the Home Secretary is not a man to be envied. He has a thousand things to decide which, decide them how he may, are sure to bring about his ears a nest of stinging critical hornets. He is responsible for so many things that his name is sure to be in the papers every day, and the notices of his words and actions are no less sure to be in the majority of instances unfavourable. Truly, it is a "fierce light" which beats upon the Home Secretary. It is a fine thing in its way to be a Cabinet Minister; but we can imagine some more enviable situations than the one which is at present occupied by the member for Renfrewshire. No doubt he gained the seat for that county by virtue of his position at the Home Office; but the same distinction has also made him one of the best-abused men of his day. The articles of almost savage ferocity which have been hurled against Mr. Bruce by the metropolitan newspapers would make, if brought together, one of the largest books in the world. He is assailed in books and pamphlets as well as in the newspapers. "Who could conscientiously envy Mr. Bruce?" asks a pungent critic who has recently been showering a series of "Sketches" upon the town, which have caused rather a sensation at Westminster. "Was there ever such an unmitigated mistake in any Cabinet as that man? He has proved himself weaker even than Mr. Walpole, and that was difficult." On every hand we hear it remarked that Mr. Bruce's solitary act of legislation has been the one relating to the London cabs, and even that is said to be an utter failure. It is true that, from no fault of the Home Secretary, but from political exigencies, Home Office Bills, being of a social and administrative and not of a political character, have been thrust aside. They have been obliged to give way to such measures as the Irish Church and Land Bills, Education, Army Organization, and the Ballot. As for the latter question, Mr. Bruce spontaneously handed it over to Mr. Forster, believing that it would be better treated by an old advocate than by a recent convert. In such small space of time as he could command, however, Mr. Bruce has carried the Habitual Criminals Act, which, in its proved results, has been the most successful measure for the repression of crime passed during the last thirty years. He has also successfully dealt with the difficult subject of Trades' Unions, and he has carried an important extension of the Factory Acts, besides many minor measures. As for the Cab Act, about which the _Pall Mall Gazette_ has every now and again raised a cuckoo cry, it is altogether a municipal one, and