The Press. — London, England, 1853-05-21 00:00:00

r v!z) ef, ~~,w./~.--,- ~~~• / - : 41 t._ 4" i II . ZY fl - i - V. i i li b t 1 1 "111 I, :. 1 \ 1 s _ I i , rt '7:s. , No. 3.—VoL. I. Cly Vrtss. LONDON, SATURDAY, M4l' 21, 1R53. IT k impossible to deny the claims of Lord JOHN RUSSELL to the respect and regard of the country. With the exception of the followers of Sir ROBERT PEEL, his present colleagues, who for the last six years have, in their public journals and in their private conversation, employed and exhausted all the arts and phrases of disparagement against hint, there is probably no body of men in England which does not look up to him with interest and con sideration. A public career of forty years is itself an element of strength in this land of experience and tradition. The moat skilful debater •.in the House of Commons ; more adroit, perhaps, even than Sir ROBERT PEEL in his most plausible hour; not devoid of passion when the occasion demands emotion ; very versed in attains ; 111141 with all that various knowledge of men .and things which long years of Parliament and office necessarily bring, Lord ,long pOtSeSseN most of those qualities which are demanded in the leader of a great party. To say that he is a leader because he is a lord is a vulgar misrepresentation. The House of Commons has always been full of lords of far greater degree than Lord JOHN RUSSELL, and they have not become leaders, and nobody has thought of them as leaders, though some of them would fain have been so. '['bat Lord Jona RUSSELL is the son of one of our historic houses is a happy accident that cannot be separated from the man, and adorns, and to a certain extent confirms, his position. It is said of Lord JOHN RUBSEI.I. that he has ever been too great a partisan ; the followers of Sir ROBERT PEEL have been very prone of late years to circulate that 1,4)1113:n1N Russw. was always a party leader but never a statesman. Fidelity to party is one of the first virtues of an English statesman, for party is the soul of parliamentary government. Yet, in the course Of a long and memorable career, there arc only two occasions in Lord JOHN Russr.t.o4 life in which he may be said to have " Werstepped the modesty" of party, and become factious. The first was when, to gain power in —3:), he proposed the Appropriation clause ; the second was when, to retain power in --7)U, he reck lessly promised a new Reform Bill. But from the embarrassing consequences of this last mistake he was relieved by his sub sequent quarrel with Lord 1/ALMEnsTos, and the consequent change of Government. All that the Whigs then had to (lo was to remain at grass until their energies were renovated, and the country 111141 forgotten their short comings. They would have rallied in due course as they rallied in —4O. Unfortunately, the man whom the fidlowers of Sir It. PEEL described as a mere partisan threw over his Wparty, and inflieted the greatest blow upon the higs that they have ever encountered. By accepting office under Lord AaminEys, Lad douN Hs sst:l.l. virtually announced that the Whig's had ceased to in a party that could govern the 4,mitry. It is impossible to ac count for this singular aberration by an unhal lowed itch for othee. Lord JOHN should be above this, and, in spite of much tattle, we LONDON, SATURDAY, MAY 21, 1853. believe be is so. He is not like the majority of our imblic Melt—with no excitement but the council Ofamber and the senate. He is really a man of literary tastes, and pursuits. and feelings. He had something to tall back upon, mad seemed to do 50 with sincerity. for he embarked in more than one enterprise of letters. We attribute. theretere, his strange mingling in the intrigues of last autumn. whichll3lW ended far more disastrously to the Whig party than to Lortl !Naar, to the main• hued.. influence which has on several °eva sions been exercised over him by the mean and meddling ambition of the Duke of BED 10111). This premature return to ofliee of I,ord .lottN Ressini i. will probably end in destroying his ammeter us a public man. It has already placed him in a more than questionable posi tion. Nothing but imperial urgeney eould have justified a Prime Minister, and especially it Whig Prime Minister, in proposing in —52 a new Reform of Parliament. If urgent, how ever, why is it now postponed? If Lord .loin RUSSELL were sincere in —52, his sincerity eau only be proved at the expense of his discri mination. It is now understood that Sir .lAmEs GRAHAM WILM the illlliYidual who, in the abortive negotiations Of —l5l, impressed upon the fermi champion of finality the expediency of further tampering with the elements of the House of Commons. Lord JOHN was not for tunate in his counsellor. Cunning, versatile, malignant, and andaeiotts, at least in theory, Sir.lAmEs is always wrong. It was said of the great Lord SuArrEsnuay, to neenunt for his SUeeeSS in spite of all his errors, that he had this great quality, "he understood the people of England." Now, this is a sort of knowledg that Sir JAMES GRAHAM never had; and in the present instance Sir JAMES GRAHAM. making one of his usual nistakes, has foreed Lord ABER DEEN to found his Government on a promise of a " large measure of Parliamentary Reform," and has pulled Lord .lonN ItusmEm. into the pit, without either Lord ABEiuiu or Lord JOHN RUSSELL, or Sir .TAMES linAitAn having any clear idea of what they mean or of what they are going to (14). Let us try to comprehend the situation. There are two men in England who 111'44111y in telligihie positions. and only two. They are both Libends, both Reformers, and both Lan cashire men, and these are Lord DERRY and Mr. BRIGHT. Without l ord DEttuv the Re form Bill of Lord tinEv, of whom he has been the only faithful disciple, would never have been earned. As Irish Minister he established the system of National Editeation, abolished tithes. and remodelled the Church. As Colo nial '.Minister he abolished slavery. Prime Mi nister for less than a year. he reformed the Court of Chancery, established the conpiplete defenees of the el /Mit ry, a n d, though baffled by a combination of parliamentary sect' s with which the country never sympathised, laid down such a basis of financial reform, that his successors cams only copy. appropriate, and ex aggerate his plans. Lord DERRY is a disciple of 'progress, but it is progress in the spirit of the English ci stitutipot and of the natipond ch► racter. lie represents, therefore, English progress. Mr. Munn is also a disciple Of progress but it is not—and avowedly it is not—progress in the spirit of the Engli4l constitution and of our national character. Speaking of our electoral system, and especially of that half PRICE SIXPENCE. million of comity elector% whose purity awl public spirit mainly 111410111 Rt present 01ir representative scheme, he has declared and lamented that politieal power is deposited " with them," and that " he, for on. reeks to change the depositary of power in this colt, " try." Mr. ltimitiy, tlieretore, is against the main eielili'lits of the Nouse Of OSIIIIIOII4. At a banquet at Liverpool, retuniing thanks for the health of the House of Lords, Lord Dilitiv had taken oeension to viudieate the character and usefulness of that assembly. The next day, at hlaneliester, at a dinner given to the Alimister Of the routed States, Mr. Banner boldly eontroverted the arguments of Lord Maur, mill gave it as his opinion that a senate should be elective, and not territorial. Mr. Hamm% therefore, is against the House Of !MIAs. His opinion of all religious corpora thins and establialuments is never concealed He unequivocally condemns them. Mr Ih therefore, is against the Church. He is, in short, against all the estates of the realm. Mr. Ilmuirr, then * also is a disciple of progress ; but it is progress in the spirit of the Amerienn eouatitution mid of the Anierietin chanwter. reproenta, thierefore, American progress. Lonl DRAW! WOUM. et feet. all necessary changes by the wise management of existing powers, that is, by traditionary influences, to which the eommunity is accuatomed, and to which it defiers with a reverential recollection of past services. The pulley of Mr. URIOHT is to sweep away all existing authority, and, in stead of traditionary influences, to avail blew serf of power in its enidest, or, as ho deems, most logical, form—that of a " tyrant majo rity." A " tyrant majority" is the strong and natural go vern inen t of colonists,—independe tat, but still eolonising—hampered with no traili• ti1)11M. embarnissed with no classes—with no sentimental or social obstacles to their energy and enterprise ; with a vast and just eonseious ness of individual importainee ; with uo pau perism, uo public debt, and no ancient trea ties;—an illimitable wilderness, and an ab sence of all that responsibility which attends ancient, and especially European, commit nit ies. _ _ ......... We believe that a " tyrant majority " would in England produce prolonged eonvulsion, anitreliy, certainly military despotism, proba lay foreign conquest ; but it is a distinct and powerful principle, and has the force in theory which all prineiples command. We know tho consequences of a Governinunt conducted by traditionary influences. England is the only country in El Which is now so governed. We have been prosperous when all have been suffering, and free when all have been en slaved. But between these two intelligible systems the people of this cou n try must sooner or later choose. Thome whom an intrigue has placed in present lamer represent nothing, and have made up their minds to nothing. I .ord ABER 14:EN is to he the Minister of a second-mte German state; Lord JOHN, follow ing up a parliamentary manteuvre of the eighteenth century, finds himself, with Consols at par, preuipitating a revolution, and begins to talk wildly of " Conservative demoeraey ; Sir JAMES IitiIAHANI, audacious in a fiilty, will take fright, as he always does, at the critical mo ment, like a bold borderer at the sight of regular troops ; Mr. GLADITONS has not recovered Atom