The Press. — London, England, 1857-04-18 00:00:00

sagiw 11; WITH the exception of an Irish county the General Election has now concluded, and upon the whole we are convinced that the Conservatives have no reason for dissatisfac tion. The bounds of the two permanent parties of the realm are more clearly marked ; the natural resources and compact unity of the Conservative body appear in strong con trast with the large but loose elements of motley Liberalism. In many important re spects the working of the Legislature will be decidedly improved. The total destruction of jarring sections, and the dispersion of several conceited characters enamoured of their own crotchets, will render the state of the House of Commons more wholesome. The floor of the House in the coming session will not, as was too often the case in the last Parliament, be crowded with gentlemen seeking to mount their favourite hobbies. The efforts of an Opposition in such a state of things will arrest more undivided attention, and com mand more definite support. It is only a question of time in political warfare when numbers, wealth, and trained abilities, organised in concert, and directed with deci sion, must obtain predominance and power. The results of the election in the cities and boroughs is especially remarkable. It gene rally happens that a Cabinet appealing to the country gains in the towns, owing to the number of " Government seats " which are under the influence of official departments. Such was not the case at this election. The success of Government in the towns was merely nominal, though extraordinary efforts were made to gain seats. The counties which have been lost to the Conservatives have only recurred to their natural influences, and the same result might have been anticipated in most of them, even 4;f Lord PALMERSTON had not been Minister. When there is no stirring political question before the public mind, when the feelings of the community are not aroused by subjects like the New Poor Law in '34, or the Protestant question in '37 and '4l, it is only reasonable to expect that tradi tional names and territorial influences must command success. Who can be surprised, in times like the present, at the representation of Northamptonshire (South), or of East Norfolk, being assigned to persons with the MUMS of Althorp and Windham? It is the existence of those hereditary feelings which, in spite of Liberal official ascendancy, secure for the gentlemen of England such force in the Legislature and such influence with society at large. It may be observed, also, that it is not likely that the Liberals will now be so ardent as they were in the support of Mr. LOCKE KING'S motion. They will, if wise, prize their county seats, and not disparage their possession by degrading the constitu encies. Passing from these considerations, we must observe that the difficulties of the present Ministry are obviously commencing with their majority. Their supporters have not similar ends in view, and their organs profess hetero " done?" is vague - in tone, and wild in style , crude views are expressed in coarse sentences ; the logic of the article is weak and incon secutive, and the rhetoric is a clumsy attempt to substitute boisterous vehemence for flowing eloquence. Lord JOHN RUSSELL is derided, Mr. GLADSTONE is disparaged, and Lord PAL MERSTON is panegyrised. The disordered con dition of the Liberals is shown in the simple fact that the character and claims of Lord JOHN RUSSELL are sneered at in the once celebrated "blue and buff." The cloud dark ening over the Prime Minister's head is awkwardly indicated by the intemperate re viewer. While attempting to sketch out the " no-policy course " of the Cabinet, the writer observes : We anticipate that the new Parliament will be at once liberal and moderate, friendly to practical .impreovements, and averse to sweeping, organic changes. Surely this is the cant of a tame bureaucracy wishing to escape from pledges and from Par liamentary responsibility, and anxious to grow fat in office. If there is any meaning to be at tached to such language, it must signify that the opinion of Parliament will not be asked upon a real Reform Bill. The question must be postponed for the private convenience of Lord PALMERSTON and his obsequious satellites. England is to be ruled by a dynasty of clerks in Downing-street calling themselves states men, and by the threat of a large Reform Bill in future. But the Conservative party is too powerful in Parliament to allow of such a delusive sys tem being inaugurated. Either we are to have a Reform Bill or not; and the Minister cannot be allowed to continue his old game of playing fast and loose between opposite interests. The Reform question must be settled one way or the other. Should it be resolved to propose a Reform Bill, the Conservatives will be pre pared to meet the question on its merits, to accept its proposals if just, constitutional, and safe, or to oppose them if revolutionary in their aim, or, what is more likely, if they should be partial and partisan in their provisions. On the other hand, should Lord PALMERSTON decide on having no Reform Bill, the fact must be acknowledged. The Minister, it is obvious, must speak out. The Edinburgh Review, not long since (during the rule of the Coalition), disserted upon " Reform " at great length, and Lord JOHN RUSSELL has dried up his tears, and is ready for action on the subject. Its discussion can neither be smothered nor avoided, and the Premier must be prepared with an avowed policy. He has got his majority; lie has now to show that he can wield it. A policy of mere words will not be accepted in a Minister who has rivals on his flank and a strong Oppo sition in his front. Hitherto Lord PALMERS TON has escaped as a Prime Minister by relying on the help of the Opposition. But the war has ceased, parties have fallen into their natural places, and, though it may he un palatable to the dictatorial ambition of Lord PALMERSTON, Parliament again must resume its constitutional control, and enforce the salutary precept that the power of a Minister is a trust for the community. and cannot be confided to any personage for the mere gratifi cation of autocratic ambition. DEPOSED TRIBUNES. STAMPED ....SIXPENCE. UNSTAMPED..FIVEPENCE. 'RING more remains to be said on the ition from popular leadership of the .irous declaimers who for the last ten years have filled so large a space before the public eye. We have read all the comments which have appeared on the ejection from Par liament of the self-constituted " tribunes of " the people." Fierce exultation, mercenary partisanship, and in some cases the instincts of personal animosity would seem to have inspired the vehement rejoicings over the fall of Messrs COBDEN, BRIGHT, arid their affiliated supporters. We never approved of the tone of politics adoptel by these gentlemen, and we wero hostile to them on fundamental questions. As we never eulogised, neither did we ever vilify their conduct, or defame their reputa tions. Their motives, character, conduct, we do not care to criticise. In a political point of view, however, there is something to be ob served on their sudden downfall. Mr. CosnaN, Mr. BRIGHT, and their personal connection, presented the first instance of the tribunitian element influencing Parliament inside doors. In the last century, and prior• to the Reform Bill, political tribunes had con siderable power out of doors. WILKES was a cypher in the House of Commons, but he was a noun of multitude out of Parliament. HORNE TooxE was fierce and factious at the Brentford hustings, and he wrote some stinging letters in the political journals of the time. But neither Waxes nor TOOKE were powerful in the House of Commons. " The Friends of the People" bad an organisation out of doers, and " Camas GREY' was a member of their confederacy ; but so little power bad they upon the House of Commons itself, that Mr. Ptrr told the Parliamentary Reformers that "he could send them home in two " hackney coaches." From the days of the French Revolution to the Reform Bill, the mission of a political tribune fell into lower hands. It is enough to mention Column and. HUNT to indicate the level of the demagogism of that time. After the Reform Bill, it is rather curious that no very striking English tribune imme diately entered the House of Commons. O'CONNELL was Irish, and even with the help of the Whig aristocracy the Agitator found his influence so restricted within Parliament that he was glad to transfer his energies to monster meetings. Sir JOHN WALSH, in his " Chapters of Contemporary History," has remarked : It is a favourite theory with political philosophers that as if a gentleman wants a butler or bailiff he adver tises for one and finds him, so that when society, or the circumstances of the times, requires a Cromwell or a Napoleon, the Cromwell or Napoleon is ready. If this be true, certainly English society had no need just then of a Radical statesman, for no democratic Pitt or Fox started forth, a readymade head of the movement. But though there produced by thi mentary power enormously in( for the first ti terest. Mr. its spokesmen,. wealth of powerful money as well doubly powerful. was settled They had grew relied upon • • ••• ../ r— • • • i* • • // 01- 4 --- e . e/e/ - • ( d • , • No. 207.—V0L.V. LONDON, SATURDAY, APRIL 18 , 1857, rtS S. geneous opinions. A maladroit article in the new number of the Edinburgh Review, entitled aE ., OMETH " The Past Session and the New Parliament," peveals the dilemma of the Cabinet. The depositi ' LONDON, SATURDAY, APRIL 18, 1857. answer to the question of "What is to be vigorous g. rinnu9" is arcionio in 4nnes and wilti in civic. • 1.-- 41 there was no Radical Mirabean y the Reform Bill, the Parlia- ver of the " Factory Lords" was increased. Thp f ... 4 ,,,• ~ ~. epee time became a . .." -1 , I'- COBDEN and , •• • , • t ' llr / . je-, ....0 en, aI) d , support werful capital** 4 - t r, . . !Has men. Tim ~.'• , • -T , .. , *wit erf u 1 . But w , ,-.. g. , _ m - . . they rem •rr . - . ' 4' 7 ..." • ;neat political:lft .•.,„.., • • ~- . tli the public, ottruf ' •F` . .4kAi .., -_--