At a Crisis of Our Foreign Affairs—At a Time when the attention of the Government was, or ought to have been—probably was—almost exclusively directed to the important and urgent subjects of foreign policy which were pressed upon them—the country was suddenly startled by the announcement—an announcement given in great detail, and with great apparent knowledge of facts—that the Minister who, although I have often differed from him on foreign affairs, yet undoubtedly possessed more knowledge of foreign affairs, and by a great portion of the country was more trusted than almost any other of Her Majesty's Ministers, had ceased to hold the high office of Secretary of State.