The Press. — London, England, 1856-04-12 00:00:00

_lbeKyl4e4z Zbet :\1! rtgt No. 154.—V0L. IV. Vrtss. LONDON, SATURDAY, APRIL 12, 1856. No divining wand is needed to foretell the catastrophe of a Cabinet beaten twice in one week. Peace being proclaimed, the weakness of the Ministry becomes palpable to all. The progress of events has brought Govern ment into a position which may be described as status quo ante " Coalition." Whoever ex amines the list of the Russell Cabinet, as it stood in 1850, will find that in representative tone and official aptitude it was considerably superior to the Ministry over which Lord PALMERSTON presides. The country, however, was not satisfied with the old Whig Families, and it expired of exhaustion. The present Ministry has now no longer the factitious sup port of a continental war to divert scrutiny from its pretensions, and to lull the dissatis faction with its debility. If Lord Jolts RUSSELL, with his united " great Whig party," was not able to administer affitirs, how can a patchwork connection strive against the pres sure of the House of Commons recovering with Peace its right of free inquiry? The present Government is manifestly weak, both collectively and individually. As a Cabinet, it represents no policy; as a Minis try, it has little special ruling talent. Its Premier has past the period when the mind can adjust itself to urgent calls for vigorous effort.. Mr. DISRAELI happily reminded the Noble Viscount of the ambiguity of a career in which many years were spent under the tutelage of Lords LIVERPOOL and CASTLE RIAGH. When Lord PALMERSTON was young he as a dubious Liberal in his speeches, and a zealous Tory in his votes; when he is aged he is a Premier of a " Liberal " connection, which suspects him of being " an old Tory " in false colours. Though fatally facile with his pen and speech, Lord JOHN RUSSELL was at least zealous as an administrator ; but the con duct of Lord PALMERSTON in the Home-office shows how little the country can expect from hits on education, administrative reform, or the amendment of the law. Whether from the levity of his character, or a peculiar in capacity for discerning political principles. Lord PALMERSTON has never shown that moral vision inherent in a great ruling nature. He was never the chosen leader of a Parliamen t!rY Party, and accident alone precipitated arm into the Premiership. The age demands energetic application of sound . principles. Force and freshness are necessary for the treatment of the social problems that press for solution ; but in so conventional a character as that of Lord PALMERSTON it would be vain to look for profound ideas. To coquet with opposites, and to embrace nothing heartily, has been the inherent vice of his Mashy sys tem of politics, at once unstable and unsound. Next to the Premiership the office of Lord Chancellor is the most important, and in that Post the Russell Cabinet had the superiority. Nobody ever hinted that Lord CorrEs HAM was a failure on the Woolsack, and he had great weight with the profession, while, as a law bNIUMINNInimmos LONDON, SATURDAY, APRIL 12,1856. r€former, he did not fall shorter of expectation I than the present keeper of the Great Seal. In the secretarial departments of administration the Russell Cabinet, weak as it was, again had the advantage. As to the Foreign-office, we shall allow the friends of the Earl of CLAREN DON and of Viscount PALMERSTON to decide which was best suited for the post. In both Cabinets Sir GEORGE GREY filled the office of Home Secretary, and of late there have been some manifestations that the lively but not powerful Baronet has not so ready an access to the ear of the House as in former times, but his efficiency has been impaired by his want of stamina. In the Colonial-office it would he absurd to dwell on the degree of intellectual difference between Earl GREY and Mr. LABOUCHERE. The first had a philoso phical intellect, though spoiled by its propen sity to crotchets ; but originality was never imputed to the present Secretary for the Colonies. Take, again, the financial department, and we are certain that the colleagues of Sir CORNEWALL LEWIS will admit that Sir CHARLES WOOD had more aptitude for the post. In saying that we do not at all compliment Sir CHARLES WOOD; his training was more official than that of his successor, and his early ex perience as private secretary to Earl GREY gave him familiarity with " the City." Rut it is in " the eternal city," and in philoso phical dissertations on its archeology, that Sir CORNEWALL Lcwis finds his chief spe ciality. Ha is, without question, an eminent scholar; but his greatest friends, like his literary critics, will admit that he has not as much weight in politics as in letters Colleges may applaud his learning, but capi talists will dispute his budgets. Lord NIINTO, as a Lord Privy Seal, was not so reticent in speech as Lord HARROWBY; yet we cannot forget that in the Maynooth Com mission, over which Lord HARROWBY presided, portions of the evidence were prematurely disclosed to the Court of Rome, and, though Lord HARROWBY is an incarnate cyclopedia in variety of knowledge, in a long Parliamentary career his Lordship has never shown eminent talent for affairs. Like his accomplished father, Lord HARROWBY belongs to " the waverers, " the political interest in our do mestic politics which the Premier most cul tivates. LORD NIINTO, at least, was head of the Elliotts, and kept all the Scotch cousins quiet, besides possessing what Sir JAMES GRAHAM would call "a short cut" to Woburn Abbey. We incline, also, to think that Sir FRANCIS BARING, as First Lord of the Admi ralty, was more popular with the Navy than Sir CHARLES WOOD. Lord Baouoterox, (Sir J. C. Hobliouse) was a weak Minister for India ; his successor, Mr. VERNON SMITH, is a highly respectable gentleman, with many good per sonal qualities, but we do not perceive his dis tinctive faculties for dealing with that mighty Oriental problem, which requires more atten tion than is given to it by the dilettanti Whigs of our time. The same relative inferiority is manifest in the subordinate parts of the two Cabinets. Mr. BAINES left his place at the Poor Law Board from failing health, and he is one of the Ministerial supernumeraries ; but we cannot forget that his otfiice of Chancalloe of the Duchy of Lancaster was held under the Russell Ministry) by Lord CAMPBELL, with abilities great as his energy and experience. The President of the Board of Trade was Mr. STAMPED ....SIXPENCE. UNSTkMPED..FIVEPENCI LABOUCHERE, who had important commercial connections ; and the office is now occupied by Lord STANLEY of ALDERLEY, more qualified as an electioneering ally than an economical administrator. The Postmaster-General of the Russell Cabinet was the Marquis of CLAN RICARDE ; his successor is the Duke of ARGYLL, to whose merits as a statesman justice alone could be rendered in one of his Grace's long lectures. In the materials of such a Cabinet we do not see "the men" fit for giving to the country " the measures" upon which it has set its heart. A Whig Cabinet, with two statesmen like Lord JOHN RUSSELL and Earl GREY ex cluded from it, is a political anomaly. The Ministry, therefore, is neither a party Cabinet, nor is it (what was called in the last century) a" broad-bottomed Administration." It has no hold upon large and powerful classes of the community. The Peelites on one flank, and the politicians of Manchester on the other, keep aloof from it, and it has only lived for the last few months upon " the chapter of accidents " Without a policy, distrusted by its nominal followers, such an Administration cannot stand. The lathand-plaster edifice, with its varnished stucco, must crumble before the first sho ck.' The Earl of CLARENDON will not retain to England before Saturday, the 19th instant. CIVIL SERVICE REORGANISATION. Ir ever the will of a nation declared itself both in act and in action, in speech and silence, the English people has so spoken now. There can be no mistake either as to what they want or what they do not want. Peace abroad — present freedom, at least, from organic change at home. Amidst the wildest excite ment of the Russian quarrel, they kept the end steadily in view, and scouted all talk of nationalities " as irrelevant to the actual subject of hostilities ; and now that war is ended, the same clearness of view, the same concentration of energy upon a single point, which in private life is the secret of success, characterises their present attitude. Adminis trative reform in every branch, amendment of the law, reorganisation of the army, improve ment of the Civil Service, finance simplified and its burdens equalised—such is the sum of their demand. The last topic perhaps presses least at the moment, for our war-bills remain in great part unpaid, and a year must elapse before large ie d uc tions become possible. Lord Jon,: Russztes two favorite questions. reform and education by rate supported schools, are both a little in the background. Many people, no doubt, wish to see the fran chise extended, but not be done withouk popular feeling than forth at present, and must waste an entire more profitably ocom a general school-rate doubt the possibility . with alarm the prospect gious quarrels. They from speculating on more and more con• of limiting their exertions they know that this call- a a stronger di• is likely 60 2 nd that the. • e session who*" (pied. Many.; • _ :e over the * al • 1i.1.t . 1 " alb ow,: 0. ty of enforcii • • •.47 spect of wid • ey come ba.' ' n the futuritof 4 ""ii winced of the es.. •eino. ertions to some one of the _Aid