tan 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
ought not to be in the hands of a Secretary of State. As it was, Mr.
Bruce tried the experiment of "Free Trade." It failed, because the
London cab owners had not the enterprise to introduce better vehicles,
which he could not impose upon them. The Licensing question and the
Contagious Diseases Acts are two of the most important questions with
which Mr. Bruce is now endeavouring to grapple. Upon the construction of
both measures he has manifestly bestowed a great amount of labour.

For a Scotch Member to be also a Cabinet Minister is, at present, a
conjunction of exceeding rarity; and no less exceptional is it to find
the county of Renfrew returning to the House of Commons one who is not a
politician of native growth. For its size it has be