The Press. — London, England, 1857-04-11 00:00:00

9,,fr A // / . rt „pp, No. 206.—V0L.V. LONDON, SATURDAY, APRIL 11, 1857. STAMPED ....SIXPENCE. UNSTAMPED..FIVEPENCE. able pretence for delaying to produce mea sures which he may not be able to carry, or which may occasion his own overthrow. In mechanics want. of power may be pleaded as an excuse for inaction ; but when power is abondant, what excuse has an engineer for the stoppage of his machinery? If it does not work, he is pronounced incompetent, and de graded. It is the part and the use of strong Govern ments to settle those questions in one way or the other which have long agitated the public mind. The anti slavery battle, which had lasted for fifty years, was at last decided by the bill of Mr. STANLEY, in the " strong Go vernment" of Etta GREY. The tithe question was disposed of with similar decision. The first measure of the strong Government of Sir ROBERT PEEL was to rescue the national finances from the deplorable confusion into which a long course of Whig bungling had plunged them, to establish a surplus revenue, and to give greater freedom to connnerce. Unfortunately, Sir ROBERT was timid on some matters which demanded energy. With a majority of a hundred at his back, he could never overcome his fear of the minority in his front. Had he acted as became a Conserva tive statesman, the agitation against church rates which now threatens to extinguish the fund hitherto available for the repair of our venerable ecclesiastical edifices would have been equitably settled. The third strong Government since the Reform Bill—or rather the third strong majority of a political party—has now to commence its work. It has been obtained by professions that changes and reforms of a specific character were demanded. The Ministerial prints, with scarcely an exception, declare that the majority—as a Liberal and Reforming majority—will be large. It must, then, resolve on some course of action to give effect to its principles. It cannot stand still. It is in this position,—that if it does not now carry its professed objects, it must acknowledge that those objects are not desirable or not praAical. If the present Parliament is not Liberal enough to carry those questions which are the shibboleth of the party, what future Parliament is likely to be so? If the questions are, from their nature, shown to be impracticable—or if those who profess to advocate them are proved to be insincere—or even if constitu tional obstacles to their success are found to be insurmountable, they are not likely again to figure in electioneering addresses. The Liberal party are successful. They have their majority. Weil, then, they must give effect to their principles, or they must prepare to be regarded as political imposters or fanatics. We believe the Conservative party may well afford to wait the course of events with calm ness. In the Liberal majority arc included a sufficient number of moderate men to prevent the introduction of changes of a dangerous character. From other changes the Con servatives have nothing to dread. Even as respects Electoral Reform, the Bill of 18;12 was so designedly unfair to interests essentially Conservative, it gave such undue prepon- derance to urban populations in the represen tative system, that it is almost impossible for any change to be otherwise than favourable to the Conservative party. Any degradation of the existing suffrage is nof. likely to enlist such an amount of support in its favour as would secure its success 7; while to any fair extension of the existing suffrage, or to any such modification of the electoral system as would tend to give greater weight to intel ligence, character, and station, the Conservative party would certainly not be opposed. In the presence of an imposing majority, the Opposition %null, we imagine, neither court con flict nor slu•ink from the assertion of its prin ciples. A time will come when the public must think that constitutional changes have been carried far enough—when they will be disgusted with a foreign policy which involves the country in needless quarrels and sullies its honour—when their eyes will be opened to the folly of a systematic and profuse expendi ' ture, which not only imposes unnecessary tax ation, but which renders a large deficit cer tain, and imperils the national credit—when they desire to see their Government really and honestly conducted upon the principles announced by the leaders of Opposition— " Honourable Peace, Reduced Taxation, Social " Improvement." The Conservative party can afford to wait. It is quite strong enough to seize any opportunity which may present itself for giving effect to its principles. Paradoxical as it may appear, we think it much more for the advantage of our party that the Liberal connection while in power should have a decided rather than an uncertain majority, as its principles and administrative ability must be sooner brought to the test of experience, and as we firmly believe that success is only wanted to show its insincerity and its divi sions, and to disgust the country with its domi nation. LONDON, SATURDAY, APRIL 11, 1857. THE classified lists published in the Ministerial Journals of members returned to the new Parlia ment are of little worth. The elections have taken place under circumstances which render any accurate division into parties impossible. No broad intelligible question of policy was submitted to the country. The Premier dis solYed Parliament because he found himself in a minority. He desired to secure a more pliant House of Commons, and carefully hid his hand while his adherents paraded his name. This course was the mere easy for him as he has never identified himself with any great principles. On all those ques tions which have agitated the community for near thirty years past, he has been con tent to follow the lead of his political con nection, without much caring to exercise or to form an independent opinion. In his whole life he has initiated no measure of domestic policy ; and he has now surrounded himself with Ministers whose political opinions are as colourless as his own. The Ministerial journals say that he has attained his end—that he will have the pliant Parliament he wanted. But what can bo predicated of the character and constitution of a House of Commons, with u considerable majority disposed to support a Minister who oscillates between the magnets of opposing principles, and whose ultimate intentions are probably unknown to himself ? We know how often the maxim Ulnae ignotum, pro tnagnifico is falsified by the event. One conclusion only is certain. At the opening of the session a considerable majority will be found on the Ministerial side. The organs of Government assert that the majority will be a hundred at least. Whether it be twenty or thirty more or less is very imma terial. It will certainly be sufficiently large to allow of those differences of individual opinion which on particular questions diminish the numerical strength of a Minister's following ; but no majority can ever be so large as to pre vent the effect of a split in its own ranks on matters of vital policy. On general questions the Government of Lord Am.:am:Ex had a considerable majority, yet it fell at last by the most decisive vote that ever over th r ew tt Cabinet. The present Government could usually command a very large majority. Lvery one must recollect the triumph with which the Kars division was received by the Mmisterialists; and even at the commence ment of the session so suddenly brought to a close, the financial proposals of the Govern ment,bad and delusive as th e y were . ga i ne d a majority of eighty over the resolution sub mitted by the Leader of Opposition. No Administration can possibly be safe from the consequences of its own incompetency or rashness. A great majority is a snare when either it tends to make a Ministry presump tuous, or to intrust them with a power they know not how to wield. In the present instance it is clear that the largeness of the Ministerial majority will compel action of some kind. ‘Vhen a Parlia ment is much split up into sections, and when a Minister is compelled to rely on an uncer tain and precarious support, he has a reason- LORD COWLEY'S SERVICES. IT is currently reported that her Majesty's representative at Paris is, for some great ser vices which the public has yet to learn, to be rewarded with an earldom. The report is likely enough to be true. Lord CowLEY be longs to that fortunate division of mankind who, according to Malvolio's classification, have greatness thrust upon them. In his diplomatic capacity he has certainly rendered no services calling for any special mark of honour. LA us see what his claims really are. Surely they cannot consist in the share he took in the Conferences of Paris? The neglect and it,no ranee displ►yed by tl►'; British Plenipoten tiaries in that celebrated compromise has never been paralleled. The bungling of the two Bolgrads, which nearly caused a renewal of the war, and the restoration of the Circassian fortresses to the power of Russia, are sufficient to cover with perpetual obliquy the statesmen who are immediately responsible for those errors. But perhaps it may be Lord CowLzv's Persian treaty which entitles him to an earldom. We are not sorry to have an opportunity of expressing our opinion upon that treaty, and of enlightening the public concerning the strange and mysterious manner in which it was negotiated at Paris. For weeks together, notwithstanding the im patience expressed by the Parliament and by the Government, no progress whatever was made by Lord COWLEY in bringing the Persian Plenipotentiary to see matters from such a point of view as would afford the least proba bility of effecting the much-desired object. The a lemands of England were, in the opinion of the Persian negotiator, wholly inadmis sible. The demand for the dismissal of the Prime Minister, the retention by the English of the Islands of Karrak and Corgo, and t h e