The Press. — London, England, 1856-09-13 00:00:00

,(/ke„4,47 w No. 176.—V0L. IV. LONDON, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1856. tie Vrcss. LONDON, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1556 THE journals which have lately been reproach ing the Conservatives with the want of a party, now discover that something more is wanted. The country wants a policy, and this is a want which it seems no one is able to supply. Liberals gently reproach the Admin istration, and publicists gently reproach the Liberals. Every one has something to say on the subject, and nothing to propose. The Government ought to have something to do, but no one is prepared to say what that some thing is. One talks wildly of applying the " knife and the branding•iron to the accumu " lated abuse of ages ;" another speculates on the " iniquity of the Amorites " in foreign parts; and another opines that we are to look out for a man who will bring a policy of his own with him, as a beggar carries his wallet, on his back. In good time we shall discover that the real want of the day is,—a Govern ment Nothing is easier than to make up a Cabinet equal to the routine duties of office. The expedient answers very well when only routine work has to be performed. It would be very unreasonable to expect decided measures from men who are incapable of making up their minds on a policy, and who have no principles in common. They must exert what skill they have to stave off difficulties, and prevent the agitation of disagreeable questions. The present Government cannot move in any direction without endangering itself, and it therefore naturally and prudently resolves to stand still. A quarter of a century of power has enervated the Liberal party, and deprived it of leaders. It is still strong in connection, but lamentably deficient in ability and principle. Rather than lose its hold of power, it has been glad to accept any heads presented to it by accident. Recently it exulted in the acquisition of Lord ABERDEEN and Sir JAMES GRAHAM. It is now content to accept the Premiership of Lord. PA LIIERSTON. The Noble Lord the Member for Tiverton, with that acute perception of public feeling which has distinguished his career, discerns that a Government essentially Conservative is alone practicable. But neither his position nor his following allow him to pursue that policy of active Conservatism which the state of the country requires. He wishes to rule in a Conservative sense, but to avoid Conserva tive measures. As the inevitable result, his Government sinks into a mere negation. The legi s l a ti on d eman d e d a t t h e p resen t time is not of a kind that private individuals can possibly originate. There is no room for those great and extensive changes which, Whatever might be said of their prudence, had the power to make famous those who advocated them, and to enlist public sympathy in their support. The policy requi re d at th e p resen t d a y is ofa more modest character. It chiefly concerns the administrative business of the empire,— the reorganisation of public services,—the de velopment of colonial power and industry, and the improvement of our social institutions. This kind of work can properly be undertaken only by the Government for the time being. It may be prosecuted in a very different spirit, according to the principles of the Government which undertakes it. If a liberal policy is to prevail, the changes will be marked, as Mr . LOWE'S Shipping Bill of last year was marked by the disturbing influences peculiar to Liberal tenets. If effected in a Conservative spirit, the changes may not be less extensive, but will certainly be less obnoxious and more safe. Vast reforms have been worked by Conserva. tives in a perfectly constitutional spirit. Mr. Prrr was a great financial reformer before he was a great war minister; Lord CASTLEREAGH carried the Irish Union ; and the Tory Mr. WIL• BERFORCE paved the way for that measure of Negro Emancipation which the present Lord DERBY had the honour of carrying into effect. But if a Government be neither Liberal nor Conservative, if it has no hold on either side, its action will want that stamp of princi ple which alone can enable it to act with firm ness and power, Lord PALMERSTON'S Administration may be fertile in shifts and expedients. It may show craft in postponing inconvenient questions, or in making concessions as often as it is threat ened with defeat, but it can never hope to do more. It cannot take the initiative in legisla tion, it cannot grasp the requirements of the empire looking beyond the wants of the day ; or, with the wise forethought which belongs to statemanship, anticipate necessities, and in the time of calm make preparation for the hour of trial. How different might have been the whole course of the Russian war had not Lord DERBY'S Administration been overthrown by a vote on some insignificant detail of the Bud get which no one now recollects ! In a country so free and active as England there is no safety for the Administration in repose. There must be continual movement on the part of the Government, if only to keep pace with the movement of society. When from any cause this activity ceases, the ele ments of disturbance are sure to accumulate. No Government is so essentially revolutionary as one that is intent on fighting off difficulties and making things pleasant. As with alliclasses of the improvident, destruction overtakes it like an armed man, and its opportunities of good turn into instruments of mischief. There is a general agreement that a Conser vative Government is required at the present time. The point to be considered is, how can such a Government be formed ? This is the question for politicians to determine. The in terregnum is unsafe, and it will show a strange want of practical good sense on the part of public men if some means cannot be taken to end it, and to inspire the Executive with the power which resides in the nation, and the sentiment which actuates the great body of the people. STAMPED ....SIXPENCE. UNSTAMPED..FIVEPENCE. public characters of our time we do not re member any other statesman falling so soon and so far in such a brief period. Three years ago his Grace was Secretary of State, and the recognised chief of a club of politicians affect ing to be a party. He had as many followers and parasites as his ancestor, the head of the Pelhams in the last century. People said that his Grace was dreaming of becoming Premier, and his flatterers extolled his won derful talents for business, and drew invidi ous comparisons between his Grace and the Whig chiefs, whom his Grace circumvented rather than supplanted. And what is the position of the Duke of NEWCASTLE now ? His own tongue last week, and the pen of Mr. Lofty last Monday, have given answers to the question. He was once petted and panegyrised by Mr. Lofty, and he is now condescendingly pitied. His Grace had set up to be a great statesman, and he undertook to conduct a mighty war, and the result of his preposterous ambition is that his Grace, as confessed by himself, is now " separated from all parties," and is told that he was made " a scapegoat." But great states men, endowed with the masterly qualities that rule confederacies of politicians, are not made " scapegoats." A Castlereagh in troubled times might have been made the target for popular odium, but the Crown and his col leagues stood by him. Let the different man ner in which CASTLEREAGH asserted his own cause against CANNING, and the compliant humility with which the Duke of NEWCASTLE succumbed to the irregular attack of Lord JOHN RUSSELL, be contrasted, and any one will perceive the reason why the Duke of NEW CASTLE failed to be a powerful statesman when a pressure was put upon his powers. We have not the least wish to mock the Duke of NEWCASTLE in his admitted failure, not only as a War Minister, but even as a party leader. We cannot, however, forget the active part which, most unfortunately in the sequel, his Grace took in the confederacy against Lord DERBY'S Ministry. The Duke of NEWCASTLE was one of the most prominent of those who refused a fair trial to Lord DERBY. He would allow the Noble Earl's Cabinet no time. " The administrative abilities" of the waverers, of whom his Grace was the ambitious chief, were so admirable, that a coalition was necessary to give the country all the advantage of such master-minds. In order to achieve such re sults the Irish Brigade was engaged, and the public service was scandalised by negotiations in which it was hard to say whether the buyers or the bought were most deserving of censure. Then a JOHN SADLEIR, a third-class Irish attor ney, was made a Lord of the Treasury ; then the most solemn protestations before heaven were conveniently forgotten for the sake of partisans without a blush • then Mr. EDMUND O'FLAHERTY was mak an income-tax Commis sioner, and Mr. IirtSELL (without Parlia mentary experience) gazetted to the Ordnance, apparently for no Mir— than becat he had chanted his - Rome ; and other acts over which no veil can age. ... lt is useless, thel NEWCASTLE to assum, innocence. Time has flier reason than because religion • isurch of sof ' • • r med 11 bq . 4 Dreleekit ... Tefrre ;1 e- of 0 ue 44 111 ; 4 7 * I ' I ufed k .SS I i I ' 111 • S 4 . : • THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE. It is now some time since the name of at, Duke of NEWCASTLE appeared in political dis cussion. The recent appearance of his Grace, in company with Mr. ROEBUCK, at the Master Cutler's Feast at Sheffield was calculated to excite many curious reflections. Of all the