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Leader (1850-1860), 27th February 1858, Edition 2 of 2, Page 11, THE NEW MINISTRY. The new Government is ...

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    • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

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      No. 414, Fbbbpab* 27,1s83.] Thb Ibabbr F...

      No . 414 , Fbbbpab * 27 , 1 S 83 . ] THB iBABBR flO 8

      Notices To Corbesponpuwts. It Is Impossi...

      NOTICES TO CORBESPONPUWTS . It is impossible to acknowledge ttie mass of tetters we receive . Their insertion is often delayed , owing to a press of matter ; and when omitted , it is frequently from reasons quite independent of themeritsof theoommwuos-Severa ' l communications unavoidably stand over . No notice cau be takeu of anonymous correspondence . Whateveris intended for'insertion must be authenticated by the name and address of the writer ; not . necessarily for publication , but as a ^ uarantee of his good faith . We cannot undertake to return rejected communications .

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      — + ¦ Ja & i & Qzx *

      \ '~ Y ^ J ¦¦ _ Saturday, February 27, 1...

      \ ' ~ y ^ J ¦¦ _ SATURDAY , FEBRUARY 27 , 1858 .

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      • ¦ gulilir Mates .

      There Is Nothing So Revolutionary, Becau...

      There is nothing so revolutionary , because there 1-nothmg so unnatural and convulsive , as the strain to keep things fixed when all the world is by thevery law of its creat-ionin eternal progress . —De . Aenoid _

      The New Ministry. The New Government Is ...

      THE NEW MINISTRY . The new Government is an interregnum ; Lord Derby has proved himself an impossible Premier , he has accepted tlie post as chief commissioner of a Board to administer the affairs of the British Empire until the next constitutional Cabinet can be formed . The Board comprises men of ability and character , but they are so placed as to be debarred

      from distinguishing themselves or serving their country according to their capacity , and in obedience to the unauimoua wishes of the country . Some of them may do some good while they are in power ; but unless they negative the character which the same Government left behind it in 1852 , and acquire entirely new attributes , they ean but repeat the failure of that year .

      In general terms we may say that it is the Cabinet of 1852 called forth again , but it is called forth under totally altered circumstances . 1852 was a year of profound peace . The break-up of parties consequent upon the transformation of the Tories into Freetraders , and carried out by the perplexities of the Liberal party , had ended in converting the' House of Commons into a set of distinct minorities , no one of which could command power . Almost nil the greatest measures for which we had been

      calling for many years had beea carried ; the country was fatigued after the exertions of more than one generation . Excepting the unenfranchised classes , who had not yet learned the way to give effect to their just claims , there was no very great and absolute demand for measures ; the period was negative ; the Tories had clung together by the force of tradition ; they presented the Largest number of men , there was nothing for them to do in office , and they entered for that purpose . They accepted ' power' merely to prevent the

      doing of things which were inconsistent , not with living convictions , but with their defunct opinions . In fact , they entered office to bury the last remaining principle that distinguished them from the rest of English politicians—Protection—and they did bury it . On reentering now , however , they find an exceedingly com plicated state of foreign affairs—our nearest ally half converted into an enemy ; our most important dependency shaken by a general mutiny ; our tea field threatening to separate itself from ua by a general mutiny of

      the Chineso Empire against ffio English riierchantmen 5 and at home n stnte of expectancy fov measures not yet forthcoming , which , under the imperial rdgime of France , would perhaps bo called 'culpable expectancy . ' Lord Derby and Mr . DisitAiaLT , therefore , resume oQice not tvt a period of political satiety and

      weariness , but at a period of general expectation . It is a time to try any Ministry , and we shall be disposed to make every allowance for that which has been brought into office by an accidental combination without any real strength for keeping itself there . If we find individual ability m tbe Cabinet , we do not fiiid it collectively . Mr . AVai » : po : l : b will probably make a good Home Secretary , but how will fate manage the police business when Lord MaIi-MESBtmY , as Foreign Secretary , becomes agent in this country for IJoiris Nafoleon , that potentate being under a paroxysm of

      alarm and irritation against our institutions and our guests ? How will he manage publichouses through Mr . Habdt , Ms " Undersecretary ? Sir Joins Pakington is popular in the Colonies , and , as Home Secretary , he might push the subject of education ; but he helped to get us into hot water with the United States by annexing Buiatan with the British Empire ; Lord Derby and Mr . Disbaeli cannot consistently let him educate ; and so tbe man who is too good for home politics is sent to sea—made First Lord of the Admiralty , in order , we suppose , that he may command the Channel fleet should Lord Maxmesbttry ' s friend take it

      into his head to visit the Lord Warden at Dover ! Lord Eli / ewborottgh understands the border tribes of India , state ceremonies in the Oriental fashion , and the way to encourage Jack Sepoy ; he has some peculiar notions about the proper mode of dispossessing the East India Company , and Lord Derb y believes him to be a sublime authority in Indian matters . He is a man whose temperament would make him issue edictswe have yet to see what he can do with

      Parliamentary bills . Sir Frederick Thesiger is a powerful Nisi Prius lawyer ; but be is placed at the head of Equity and the Peers . The Colonial Department , vacant by the execution of Sir John Pakington , is accepted by Lord Stanley ; but how can he act with Lord Derby ? Perhaps the most appropriate appointment is that of Lord John Manners as " Chief Commissioner of Public Works , to establish cricket-grounds in the City and elsewhere .

      But the difficulty is to know how these most respectable gentlemen will manage collectively ; they must handle questions k la Derbf , and how can that be contrived ? Our relations with France must be managed under further conditions . Lord Derby cannot do as Lord Palmeuston proposed , Lord Maimesbubt cannot take the independent position that Lord John Russell , would ; they cannot simply take up the dropped bill , even if the forms of Parliament should allow it ; but yet they must keep peace with , France . They must maintain the independence of

      England , while Louis Napoleon knows that he has them on the hip , and they do not enjoy the confidence of the English people . Whatever ability Lord Ellenboroucui may show in the Board of Control , sent over to Calcutta , there is still a very important Indian department filled by a worthy gentleman who iw not regarded as the Chatham of the war department—General Pkel . A measure that has been forgotten in the turmoil of political excitement is tho Bank Charter question , which was to bo debated on the question whether the Charter should he continued ,

      with or without modification ? The queation is now to be thrown aa a plaything in the nTon 7 lf ^ f 1 Wr' 7 ^ i 8 TiA ^ ET 7 ^ ATi-d 70 ' b-ovo--al lrwhnt will the Engliah public do for a Reform Bill ? It is said that Lord Guey was invited to join the Cabinet , probably for the specific purpose of drafting tho Reform Bill , since of « U living politicians ho id thnb happy wight who has conceived the possibility of reform reducod

      to the smallest dimensions . Most Ministries ean claim to be judged by their acts j l > u * the new G-overnment will require inucb greatest allowances . The grand difficulty with which itfca # « b contend is an essential mistake in the v & rjr organization of the party . It is a partV without any raison d'itre . It has not a political principle to rally to . There is not a man who could be placed in any of th 6 offices of domestic administration , scarcely a ntata that could enter the Cabinet at all , who

      Would be prepared at this day to ftvow the principles of the Tory . The new « fangtefl substitute ' Conservative' signifies notbing at all . Lord Grey , the ' Whig , ' is trdfly more reactionary than Sir John PAK . iN 6 MP < Wf . the quondam ' Tory . ' Mr . Gladstone ' Conservative ' enough in some things , is * 4 e * - volutionary in others . Lord Derby himSejH has perhaps no principle , except that of * W ! being ' Liberal ; ' while Mr . Disraeli ' s chief aim ia to show that the Conservatives are ? a party who reconcile the ' Liberalism' of the morrow to the Toryism of the eve . ' ThstfB is , in fact , nothing that holds the party together * , except some adhesion to the personal recollections of a past that has

      entirely disappeared . It is this , the moat unsubstantial of all political halluehMh tions , which makes men like Walpos ^ Pakington , The sigejj , Stanley , aad Kelly consent to serve under those wb . o are their inferiors intellectually , politically , and practically . The line , therefore , wbieb . the new Ministry must take in order to keep itself going , must be one of incessant diffreajlty . This action involves almost a contradiction in terms ; and if the Government can but manage to sustain the credit of tbe country abroad , we must consider it to have acquitted itself well . It is an interim Ministry , holding office until a Government really representing the country can be found .

      Lord Palmerston's Fall. The Intrigue To ...

      LORD PALMERSTON'S FALL . The intrigue to restore Lord PalmerstOST is one at which no reasoning politician can ooa > - nive . After sending to Lord CowiiBY for ft character , which arrived too late , the fallen Minister , believing himself essential , hopes to be recalled by universal acclamation , as tfoe statesman who , though he may have been misunderstood on a particular point , has uniformly administered affairs at home with vigour , and sustained the honour of tb « country abroad . Far too liberal applause is claimed for him in both characters . His

      domestic legislation has been signalized by an immoderate proportion of failures , while ia * foreign policy has been marked by undignified inconsistency , by a practice of wheedling the powerful and , bullying the weak . That he brought the Russian war to a conclusion ia a fact upon which an enormous exaggeration of praise has been founded ; for the truth ia that Lord Palmkksxon inherited a

      work , the more difficult part of which bad been performed . Lord Abkiujekn , the Duke of Newcastle , and their colleagues , had prepared tho path for him , had borne tfra hoat and burden of the clay , had overcome difficulties and dofects accumulated by forty years of peace and rust , and left him with a renovated army , nnd an organization much imnroved . to finish the taking of Sebaatopo * .

      In the Baltic he did nothing more than had been done by hits predecessors , and when a treatynTas-signed-ib-waw-busetJvvutU ^ douMLWw complications . Wo believe that wheu the hiatory of British diplomacy from 1854 to 1856 ' shall bo written , it will be found tbat Lord John Russell wipported Britinh itt £ toreats more worthily at Vionna than Lord Claiusnj > on did nfierwards at Paris . All

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 27, 1858, page 11, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_27021858/page/11/