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Leader (1850-1860), 24th February 1855, Edition 2 of 2, Page 14

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      The Position And The Prospect. In The Pr...

      poH ^—wit aaw such . ' J jUtt" *** "f * ^ ^ to ^ e ^ w ^ r Stamp BtK On tbe suffrage questfeftJifiy «* »* fe * ¦•» . advanced as Lord JbHtStBtoaflBW . ; ignorant of Cabinet myatenes , we < jannofc assert , though we surmise * that they are more advanced—at least they "were parties to the Reform Bill of last session * . And , more forttraate than-the Whigs , * he Peehtes are not only the « Liberal party / ' hut they are the intellect of the Liberal party . Mr . Gladstone ifl acknowledged on all hands to he the firafc personage in the House of Commons ; sprung , from the middle class , the aristoewttio ina £ net has detected his tendencies ,

      and the aristocracy hate him . His colleagues are the only men , of official prestige , to whom the country can look as the successors of the weary raee < rfold statesmen who are all now at sixties and sewentiee . The Duke of Newcastle , honest and devoted as a politician , eloquent as a debater , laborious as a man of business , is distinguished by his popular sympathies and his ambition to serve the country , in the sense of obeying the voice of the country and not in the sense of securing family or class predominance . Mr . Sidney Hekbert , happily for himself

      separatedy like the Duke of Newcastle , from the oligarchical conspiracies of Whigs and Tories , is of > but not in , the aristocracy : bound up with the Peelite policy , his whole career indicates a conviction that the great nobles cannot stand merely on their titles and their wealth . And , fourthly , there is Mr . Cardwell , a man of the middle class , born to be the Minister of Commerce in a commercial country . With four such leaders- —four such men to place in front jjffice— the " national party * Would be omnipotent . Who will forbid the banns ?

      The national party means nothing that can render its organisation a difficulty . It contemplates a revolution of the political system ; but it is a revolution to which the common sense of the country assents . It does not mean the destruction of the aristocracy ; it means merely the destruction of aristocratic ascendancy . It means , not the annihilation of aristocracy , but of oligarchy . It means , that England Bhall be governed by the intellect of-England , the honour . of England , _ the morality of England . We nave the men—and there is the opportunity . Shall we miss it ?

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      The Duty Of Independent Membeks. The Iss...

      THE DUTY OF INDEPENDENT MEMBEKS . The issue between the people and the Government is every day ^ narrowing , and the time is rapidly coming when we are to ascertain whether the public is as far short of its duty as the Government has proved— -as corrupt as " the system . " In the brief debate before the moving of the army estimates , on Monday , the question was very distinctly laid down by Mr . Layabd . He admitted what every man who probes the subject must admit , that an inquiry carried on by the House of Commons into the practical administration of the army , even with reference to grievances , must cripple the Executive Government . The first majority in favour of Mr . Roebuck ' s motion was a vote of no

      confidence in the late Ministry ; and the Pai . mebston Ministry would have had a right to claim a reversal or suspension of that vote , in one or other of two cases— - either if it presented new men not amenable to the" censorious inquiry , or totally new measures superseding the necessity of inquiry . The Ministers undoubtedly exhibit a degree of activity which would have been reify welcome at the earlier stages of the war , / But it would be greatl y underrating the actual complaint of the public , tor'wuppoae that the slowness of the siege

      at Sevastopol is aow the griewuwse of the day . The dilatory proceedings there ^ the w & fcQi * anything like efficient administration , and the diBaeters / that . have resulted , grievous as they are , are only the means of -disclosing to the English people the really painful Jaets . These larger facts may be thus set down : the departments organised to serve the public prevent the service they were destined to execute ; the Ministers of the public are too feeble to compel the departments to do thenduty ; the Sovereign is forced by a certain routine to continue alternating in a round o three sets of statesmen who nave proved then *

      inability to grapple with the enterprises exacted by the country ; and , finally , the most pai nful fact of all , the House of Commons , as it is at present constituted , cannot present "better men , and demands for them the acceptance of the Sovereign . It is that state of things which is the grievance . It is not the disastrous siege of Sebastopol , but the impregnability of the Treasury bench against all but those privileged with the

      entree . There may be many reasons why the army in the Crimea was too weak for its work , and yet the work ' could not be delayed ; why a sufficiency of provisions , of clothing , and of shelter was sent out , and yet they did not reach their destination—the long peace and the habits of routine tending to harden the experienced officials against new ways . All this has been pleaded , and might be adof

      mitted ; and it would excuse the state things in the Crimea . But it was of so much , importance ^ to grapple with this master evil , tliat the public has now a right to make an accusation against Ministers for not doing so effectually . The announcement that they are sending out Commissioners woiild do very well , if any one fault were the thing to be examined ; but it is all faulty . The commissioners selected do not increase confidence in

      a plan of instituting separate inquiries and separate offices . The Commissariat is to be routed out , but by whom ? By Sir John MoJNEiLir , who is seventy years of age . A chief is to be appointed to the transport service , but who is it ? Captain Chbistie , seventy year » of age , with such ^ a ^ catarrh that he cannot leave his ship after dark—a sailor who cannot face the wind ! Lord RagIlAjt has got an inefficient staff , and it is proposed to send over an old gentleman—General Simpson—to superintend the staff , and to " recommend" Ragxan what to do .

      This is literally copying the custom of the Laputans , whose statesmen had an attendant with a flapper to call their attention to the necessary business of the moment . General Simpson is appointed flapper to Kagxan . We , therefore , have promise , should these old gentlemen reach , their destination in safety , and should not die or should not

      break down , that there may be improvements in the transport , in the commissariat , the staff , & c . ; but the public service out of which these departments sprout will still be left in its state of vitiated organisation ; and by dabbling at the extremities with , very elderly hands , Government confesses that it has neither the intention nor the wish to go to the root of the evil . It is this of which the

      public has a right to complain . But , as we observed last week , there really are—and Lord Palmebston may discover the fact if he will search—men available for the public Bervice who are less than seventy years of age . It may , to certain experienced statesmen , appear rash to say so ; but we are convinced that our assertion , would be borne out by the facts . Threescore years and ten is the age of men for doing rough and ready work according to the new Ministerial interpretation !

      Yet if we admit the recognised rule of Ministerial appointment , we do not see what we should gain by turning out Lord Pai .-mebston . The Qtteen must then send for the next set in the small circle of selection , ' and that of course would be Lord Debby ' with Mr . Disbaeli and others . Now , if those gentlemen are not seventy years of age on an average , top many of them are men of such , a stamp as to have attained the characteristic of that age precociously . They nave not even the same amount of energy and TrT-f-aii + Tr + ha' h IS rliST > lftVfid bv LowL PAT . 1 Vrtn >

      , _ ston , their senior by the calendar alone . Really vigorous members are not aent up by the country , or if they are found in the House of Commons , they are not adopted by the House of Commons . Lord \ Pai . mebston treats it as a joke to make a Cabinet which shall not include the families , or the seventyyear-old colts ; and when the pleasant Viscount taunts Mr . Layabd with his unnamed Cabinet , the House of Commons pushes home the taunt with laughter . The honourable House does think it ridiculous not to have a

      Cabinet of seventy-year-old statesmen . Mr . Layabd , therefore , and those who think with , him , must carry on their quarrel , not against the Government , but against the House of Commons , and , if necessary , must appeal from the Commons to the people . Her Majesty is only allowed to " send f or" some few out of particular cliques , and the House of Commons is prepared to stand by the members of those cliques in supporting the system . Let men like Mr . Layabd and Mr .

      Lowe display anything like vigorous patriotism , independence , and true statesmanship , and unless they consent to be tamed into subordinate officers , they shall be treated as persons excluded from political influence . Mr . Latabd will get ^ nothing by making speeches to prove the incompetency of the septuagenarians . He may be perfectly familiar with the ground in " -the East , which others only know by reading or talk . He may be , as he is , a man of so much earnestness , courage , and organic energy , as to subdue , by sheer force of will and mastery of spirit ,

      the wild tribes that haunt the desolate solitu , desj of ; Nineveh . He may be prepared to speak the trutH about tHe position " of the country in Parliament . But these are not qualities recognised as essential to English statesmen . To truckle to those in power , to fall in with the freemasonry of " the system , " and to promote the alternation of gentlemen to be " sent f or "—these are the true qualities for English statesmanship aft the privilege of a caste .

      Mr . Lowe , who had been accustomed to wield a popular assembly in New South Wales—who had seen the workings of British institutions in that school which was so instructive to Lord Elgin , a British colony —conies into the House only to find howmuch English representatives have degenerated from the type of their forefathers , and how little a real patriot is at home in the Senate that sits at Westminster .

      We much doubt if anything is to be carried through in that place . The system has to be altered , not only in the departments , but in Parliament . If Mr . Layabd and Mr . Lowe , and men like them , intend to reverse the present state of things , and to rescue their country , they must be prepared to do more than to denounce a Ministry to a House

      of Commons—to denounce an Artful Dodger to a Chabley Bates I There is plenty ot discontent out of doors ; plenty of genuine feeling ; plenty of latent resolve to do what ; Ministers and Commons have noither the heart nor wish to do—lay the axe to the foundation of the present system . And if toe members of the Commons who see their duty

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 24, 1855, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_24021855/page/14/