The Press. — London, England, 1854-08-26 00:00:00

ir t ttls `.''6 704rp No. 69.—VoL. IL LONDON, SATURDAY, AUGUST 26,1854. PRICE SIXPENCE. 'Ot Vress. worth while to inquire whether the Cabinet in making these announcements was deceiving or deceived. We refer to them only to show how completely they have been falsified by the result. In one other respect the language of that speech contrasts strikingly with the present state of affairs. It noticed with satisfaction " the remission and reduction of taxes," and spoke of " the buoyant state of the revenue." To such welcome announcements we must now bid a long adieu. Ten millions of new taxes were imposed during the late session ; and, as expenditure is proceeding at a more rapid rate, we must expect in future budgets a continued increase of taxation. As Ministers did not foresee the danger, it is no great wonder that they made no prepara tions against it. They continued hopeful after the part of " La Guerre " had been definitively taken by Russia. Their warmest adherents must now be compelled to admit that they have been singularly unlucky in their conduct. Nothing has prospered with them They have failed, not only in those particular mea sures of administration in which failure shows weakness, but as respects those broad lines of policy they had announced their intention to follow, in which it proves incapacity. They promised change in our political institutions, and stability in our European alliances: but in both respects they have reversed the parts they intended to play, and, by their own admission, our electoral system is preserved from their meditated attack, only through the occurrence of a war they were bent on avoiding. Such failure is too uniform to be accidental, and we must look for its cause in that dis creditable compact which overthrew Lord DERBY'S Government, and substituted the selfish intrigues of political sections for the open and principled warfare of English parties. Counsel, the first requisite for Government, must be wanting in a Coalition composed of politicians with no sentiment or interest in common. Through this defect the Coalition Cabinet of Lord CHATHAM neglected to take measures for appeasing the discontents of America until terms of accommodation were no longer possible. In the case of Lord ABERDEEN'S Ministry, men were brought toge ther animated by the most violent jealousy towards each other, and the offices of Govern ment were distributed among them as spoil they had lawfully won, with an understanding, to remove all troublesome scruples, that each should be privileged to hold his share for his own use and benefit with as little interference as might be from any of his colleagues. Col lective energy on the part of a Cabinet thus formed was out of the question. Each Minister hoisted his own pennon. There was no mutual action or mutual control. During the most anxious period of last autumn the Cabinet seldom met. Lord ABERDEEN, in consideration of the latitude lie allowed to his colleagues, managed the Russian question as he pleased, and general principles of policy were sacrificed to departmental isolation. The squabbles of Ministers during the last session, their adverse speeches and adverse votes, their contempt one for the other which occasionally broke forth, supplied glaring proof of their radical disorder. The Legis• lature refused them its confidence because they had no confidence in themselves, and took the management of all real business into its own hands, from observing their incapacity to transact it. Were it true that the war en. grossed attention to tho exclusion of all other topics, how came it that Parliament exercised such unusual vigilance over all Ministerial proceedings ? Far from displaying any list lessness when a Government measure was in question, it seemed to instinctively divine that there was some mischief to be appre hended from it, and never suffered it to pass a stage until it had been thoroughly scruti nised. Discussions on the war occupied but a small portion of the time of the Legislature, and certainly cannot be said to have impeded in the slightest degree the business of legis lation. We do not observe without misgiving that independent action of Parliament which was so conspicuous throughout the session. A body like the House of Commons is unfit for the actual conduct of affairs. Necessity may compel it, in certain emergencies, to exercise the functions of Government, and carry on the business of legislation, but its real use is as a deliberative assembly. It should be content to depute power, not wield it, and to resign itself to the guidance of a Ministry which fairly represents the principles of its majority. When it attempts to govern by itself, it disturbs the balance of constitu tional rule, and is tolerably sure to lay the foundation of its own unpopularity. Our people are justly attached to their system of government, and recognise its ad vantages. It secures to them liberty combined with order; and, from its admirable arrange ment and noble solidity, has withstood the storms which in other countries have shaken fabrics of freedom to atoms. But it continues to exist, like the finest mechanism in nature, only by the vigorous action of its various parts. What injures or impairs the energy of one portion injures the whole. Without the healthy stimulus of party, public spirit decays, and the country takes little interest in the management of its affairs. It has been the systematic aim of the Coalition since its formation to confound parties and extinguish their distinctive prin ciples, and it has taken especial pains to silence that section of the advanced Liberals which might most probably disturb it by noisy oppo• sition. Hence the Government, instead of being as formerly at the head of a great party, has sunk into a mere bureau. By a lavish use of the patronage at its disposal to obtain► re cruits, and by resigning the work of legisla tion into the hands of Parliament, it may, perhaps, hope to maintain its position ; but its continuance in office must result in the con tinued degradation of English statesmanship l and in the continued decline of those contests of principle which engage the heart of the country in the struggles for power, and make the public good the first condition of political triumph. In the spirit of free companionship, the Coalition encourages secessions from every camp to its own. It has ribbons of every hue to suit the taste of all recruits. While this system lasts, the Parliament stands in a false position before the country. The principles of the Liberal party are kept in abeyance by the gift of a few places to its chiefs, and Con servative constituencies are deceived into re turning members whose conduct in the House is directly opposed to the policy of the party to which they are supposed to belong. No improvement can he expected in our political state until this mercenary combins- LONDON, SATURDAY, AUGUST 28, 1854. "PRESS" OFFICE, Friday Night, August 25, 1854. SiNcE our last number, some diplomatic pieces have been published, following a long•sustained controversy, on the part of our contemporaries, as to the intentions or conduct of the German Powers. Notwithstanding a recent appearance of bustle in the Cabinets, the situation of affairs during tho last three months has not, in fact, materially altered. We recommend our readers to compare the much-talked-of notes, signed by Lord WEST MORELAND and Comte Byer. respectively, on the Bth inst., with the précis of a diplomatic memo randum, drawn up caicieusement by the greatest of living statesmen, and which app eared in the first column of this journal of the 10th of last June. The essence of the exchanged notes of the Bth of August will be found in that project. Subsequent events have entirely verified the details furnished at intervals by the •PREss with respect to the secret negotiations, the commencement of which was first announced in this journal on the 27th of May. Nor is this remarkable, since they were communicated to us by the highest authority. AT this time last year the public were anxiously discussing the question of peace or war. The Coalition had been but eight months in power, yet during that period had managed to disturb the tranquillity of the country within and without. Political reforms were threatened, which the people, not long previously, had very distinctly declared that they did not desire ; and the advent of Lord ABERDEEN to office was accepted by the Court of St. Petersburg as a signal that the time had arrived for carrying into effect the principle of the secret memorandum of 1844. Yet the country could not then bring itself to believe that the settlement of Europe, which had lasted nearly forty years, would be broken up by a Ministry which had come into power with ostentatious professions of peace on its lips; and this sentiment of incredulity was carefully encouraged by public declarations of the Governthent. On the prorogation of Parliament, 20th August, 1853, we were told in the Sovereign's name that " her Majesty continued to receive " from her allies the assurance of their un " abated desire to cultivate the most friendly " relations with this country," and that, " re " lying on the exertions of the Conference now " assembled at Vienna, her Majesty has good " reason to hope that a satisfactory arrange "'sent will speedily be accomplished." It is not {LATEST EDITION.]