The Press. — London, England, 1857-03-28 00:00:00

. 298 honour, or be capable of satisfactorily conduct ing the public business. Flaying no merits of his own to plead, he alleges the demerits of his opponents. For electioneerin g purposes they are to be represented by JAMES II , Will) he personates the Merry Monarch. No one will dethrone him that they may succeed. We have not the slightest wish to shirk this question of " Which shall be the men ?" We think it has been too long overlooked. If no other Ministry be possible than the present, it must, of course, be retained in power, however gross its abuses and mischievous its course. We hope the public will look into this matter for themselves ; and that when they hear Lord DERBY and the Opposition decried by Minis terial hacks, they will consider whether Lord DERBY might not be much preferable to Lord PALMERSTON as Premier, and whether a more efficient Ministry may not be formed from the Opposition than the servile " appendages " at present surrounding Lord PALMERSTON. Lord DERBY held the high office of Premier fit the short space of ten months in 1852. He then took office un ler every disadvantage. The Conservative party was broken up. The agi tation connected with free trade had not sub sided ; a majority of the House of Commons was arrayed against him ; and he was never permitted a fair trial. Yet by the confession of his opponents many most useful public measures were passed during his tenure of office, and England in her foreign relations never occupied a more honourable position. The Government of the Noble Earl has never received justice. When he was sent for by the Queen, Lord PALMERSTON, as the Times remarked, " had not left her Majesty one ally "in Europe." When the Cabinet of Lord DERBY resigned office there was not a single State on either continent, from Russia to the smallest republic in America, with which we were not on the most cordial footing and in complete alliance. The honour of England would not be safe in Lori DERBY'S hands ! This assertion is amazing for its hardihood when we turn to the facts of the Noble Earl's Administration. He found the national defences in the most dila. pidated state. The Ministry of Lord JOHN RUSSELL feared to propose that increase in the estimates which the public service impera tively demanded. The remonstrances of the Duke of WELLINGTON were unheeded, and at last he ceased to make them. When Lord DERBY took office there were only, as subse quently stated by Lord HARDINGE in the House of Lords, fifty field-pieces equipped for service, while the gun-carriages bad been suffered to fall into such a state of decay that on occasion of the funeral of the Duke of WELLINGTON, when it was necessary to his rank of Field Marshal that seventeen guns should accompany him to the grave, seventeen carriages could not be found sufficiently strong to safely traverse the streets of London ! In the WAR DEPARTMENT one of the first. cares of Lord DERBY'S A'lmnistration was to provide 200 new field-pieces, with 600 artillery waggons; and to increase the artillery force by 2,000 horses and 1,000 men. In the ADMIRALTY, under the energetic direction of the Duke of NosTuumBERLAND, the defects of former Administrations were vigo rously repaired. The marine force was in creased by 2,000 men ; many large screw line of-battle ships were laid down, and nearly the whole of that magnificent fleet was created which the public throngel to see in August, 1853, and which proved of such incalculable service in the Russian war LA V REFORM, and particularly a reform of the Courts of Equity, had long been demanded by the public. It had been promised by the pre vious Administration ; but we have the ex press statement of Lord ST. LEOPARDS that when he took office as Lord Chancellor not a trace of any bill for the reform of Chancery procedure could be found. Lord DERBY'S law officers lost no time in preparing and maturing measures to carry out the recommendations of the Chancery Commissioners. Two bills were introduced to abolish those juity," the Masters' offices, and to new course of practice. These ' all refereaves to Masters, all ro- " sinks of iniqi regulate the r bills abolished • Loh. THE PRESS. ports, and all " states of facts." They shortened, simplified, and cheapened the whole trans action of business in Chancery. They were successfully carried through both Houses with scarcely a single amendment. The Suitors in Chancery Relief Bill was another great measure of Equity Reform passed during that session. It greatly reduced the fees of suitors by curtailing the number of officers, by lowering the salaries of those retained, and by placing salaries to the amount of 23,0001., on the Consolidated -Fund. The Law of Wills Amendment Bill, brought forward by Lord ST. LF.oNanns, removed those difficulties in former acts which were found in practice to prevent the establishment of the legality of wills, equitably valid, and to give rise to much unnecessary litigation. This measure also became law. A Patent Law Amendment Bill, for re ducing the expense of a patent for three years from 100/. to 23/., had been prepared by the preceding Government. It was taken charge of by Lord DERBY'S law officers, and by them placed on the statute•book. The same may be said of another useful act—the Com mon Law Procedure Bill—for the permanent establishment of officers at Nisi Prius, and other useful regulations. The testimony of Lord DERBY'S political opponents was freely given to the utility of these great measures. On the 28th of May, 1852, Lord TRURO, in his place in the House of Lords, said : This session was expected to be shorter than usual, but it wou'd be more remarkable in the history of England, in reference to the amendment of the law, than almost any other ussion. They had had a full inquiry made into the administration of the common law such as had not taken place since the time of Edward 111. The most deliberate examination had been made into matters affect ing the administration of justice in every department by the most competent persons; and measures had been pre pared to carry into effect their recommendations. . _ _ On the Equity Bills of Lord DERBY'S law officers, Lord Tatum remarked : The progress of these measures had been most expedi tious; it had marked an earnest desire to meet the wishes of the country on the subject. Lord BROUGHAM expressed his "great and hearty gratification" at the legal measures of the Government ; so did Lord CA3 , 113E1.1. ; and even Lord CRANWORTH could not withhold his approval. The party of Lord DERBY is sometimes accused of intolerance. One noticeable mea sure of his short administration was a bill to relieve Dissenters from the grievance of being compelled to registrar, under heavy penalties, their places of worship in the ecclesiastical courts of the dioceses in which they were situated. This provision was entirely abo lished, and registration in civil courts substi tuted. This bill, introduced by Lord COL CHESTER, had the good fortune to give equal satisfaction to the whole body of Dissenters, awl to the Heads of the Church of England. The Archbishop of CANTERBURY said, in ex pressim.., his approval : The inconveniences of the present system were so evident, and the remedy [provided so suitable, that not a word need be said except to express his complete appro. bation. In the HOME DEPARTMENT, Mr. WALPOLE successfully carried a Militia Bill, which, by voluntary enlistment, provided a force of 80,000 men, at an expense of 230,0001. ner annum. Sir DE LACY EVANS manifested Ills patriotism by virulent opposition to this mea sure; he was backed by Lord JOHN RUSSELL. It is a striking testimony to the substantial excellence of the measure that, notwithstand ing this opposition, it was carried in the Com mons by a majority of 315 to 165. Lord JOHN MANNERS, RS First Commissioner of Public Works, carried two measures of great public utility. The first. a Bill for Improving the supply of Water to the Metropolis, and for subjecting the Companies to Government Control; the second, a Bill for carrying out the principle of Extramural Interments. Previous legislation on this subject had failed to fulfil its purpose. Power was now given to the Secretary of State to close burial-grounds, and parochial officers were authorised to ob tai❑ new lands for interments. From this date the practice of intramural burials rapidly deolined. Sir B. HALL expressed his strong sense of the usefulness of this measure : SATURDAY, He begged leave, as one of the metropolitan represents. Lives, to thank the Government for having introduced this Ili I. Nothing had given greater plea , ure to the metro. polis, than to hear that this matter had been taken out of the hands of the Hoard of Health. The Coutoit. Goverfigiatit of Earl GREY had been a series of broils, in which the Home Authorities had been equal:y intemperate and unfortunate. When Sir Joint PAKINOTON took the seas of that department, his inexperience was derided by censors! nut Acquainted with his , practical nbilitidi. Alit• three months' ridicule teased, and political adversaries frankly exprea - ed that they had been mistaken in his powers. He carried a bill of eighty clauses, conferring a constitution on the colony of New Zealand ; and when the gold disco veries in Australia occasioned great ferment in that country, and the question of the right of the Crown to all geld mines seemed likely to:cause great embarrassment, Sir JOHN, by his Hereditary Casual Revenues Bill, quietly set find the q ties tion, and gave complete satisfaction to the colonies. His despatches for regulating the government of Victoria during that hazar dous period when a great part of the refuse and desperate population of the globe poured into the colony, show that he was possessed of first-rate administrative powers. During the period that Mr. DISRAELI held office as Chancellor of the Exchequer, the net expenditure was between fifty-one and fifty-two millions. Under the management of Lord PAL MERSTON'S Chancellor of the Exchequer it will be about sixty millions. It was Mr. DISRAELI who proposed that gradual reduction of the tea duties which was adopted by succeeding financiers ; and lie attempted to establish a difference between the rating to the income tax of realised property and precarious income —an object which Radical politicians profess to have at heart, but have never made any practical effort to carry out. It was Mr. Dts• RAELI who carried the St. Alban's Disfran chisement Bill ; lie proposed to allot the four seats vacant by that measure, and by the disfranchisement of Sudbury, equally between great borough and great county populations, but had not the opportunity to do so. Not a single step has since been taken in this im portant matter. It was Mr. DISRAELI also who quietly instituted a Commission—Lord CHANDOS being one of the Commissioners—to forward the work- of Administrative Reform before the public mind had been directed to the subject. The Government of IRELAND was assigned to the Earl of &MINTON. He was practical in his measures, princely in his conduct, and popular in his Court. His frankness won respect where the intrigues of Lord CLAREN DON had excited distrust, and "the Castle" was freed from a worthless race of subordinates whose names have received odious commemo ration in the courts of law. Mr. BLACKBURN, Mr. NAPIER, and Mr. WHITESIDE filled the higher legal posts. They succeeded to officials who have since been passed over by those who originally promoted the m• The Foreign office under Lord MALMES BURY'S rule had many delicate negotiations to conduct. In February, 1852, we were at daggers drawn with Austria concerning the refugees who had chimed the protection of our• soil. To the demand for their extradition or banishment, Lord NIALMESBURY had but one answer to give. The demand could not be listened to. He firmly maintained their right to protection, yet at the same time re stored our cordial relations with Austria. Lord MALMESBURY found Switzerland about to be invaded by the French President, also on the question of refugees He accepted the good offices of England, who settled the matter to the satisfaction of both parties. The good relations of Lord Derby's Cabinet with Russia and Austria , enabled it to protect Switzerland against the King of Prussia's claims on Neufchatel, by inducing those Powers to join England and France in a pro tocol, by which it was agreed that the Treaty of 1815 should be recognised, but on the un derstanding that the altered state of affairs should be examined with a view to a resettle ment. The succeeding Governments left this protocol on the shelf, and the present compli cation was the result of their neglect to carry out the settlement Lord MiLlIZOBIIII! had initiated. V-