The Press. — London, England, 1855-03-03 00:00:00

■1 198 permanent connection to form a ruling party. Thus, any " Liberal " Cabinet must be weak, uncertain, and ambiguous, halting between opposite opinions, and incapable of a con trolling authority. The social conditions of the so-called " Liberals'' arp entirely differen from those of former times. In the las century, and in later days, there was zip tha vast gulf which now exists between the Whig " families " and the rank and file of the popular party as it exist In the large toying of the 1 manufacturing districts. The democracy of the north of England is every day becoming more unmanageable by those influences in which the Whig oligarchy has such faith. Lansdowne-house, " my brother the Duke of " BEDFORD," great mansions with courtyards, small orators with big phrases, have ceased to work wonders amongst the Liberal body. The Radicals know the efficacy of political leagues With " ulterior designs," of platforms, of news papers, stipendiary agitators, of organisation, and " a cry." That the facts are as we state cannot be dis• puted ; and in their existence we see the necessity for the Conservatives being thoroughly united. We profoundly believe that the vast utility of the Conservative party was never so apparent as now. In former years our Conservatism rested in many cases upon sentiment. Many of us had a fastidious abersion to the grosser natures that floated to the surface of the turbid stream of Radicalism. Englishmen had a proud dislike to being ruled by petty pretenders of the hour, bawling themselves into notoriety, and then hiding themselves in consulships. The educated classes recoiled from being roughridden by demagogues " made to order," and obscure j untos of mercenary adventurers. These times have passed away. The surge left in the wake of the Reform-Bill agitation has ceased to beat. Formidable dangers of another kind, brought about by more complicated situations, are now menacing the national power of England, and in such times we see that a Conservative party can alone save the country. We cling to its banner in such times, not from sentimeral recollections, but from a delibe rate conviction of its admirable utility at a crisis like the present. The Conservatism of England now has both opinion and sentiment in its favour. When we draw attention to these considera tions, we are convinced that we are giving utterance to the feelings that, with more or less distinctness, have passed through the minds of all thinking Conservatives. Tho prodigious gain to the country from a consis tent party swaying the national progress with energetic power must be obvious to all men of common sense. We firmly believe that no connection but one based on a united Conser vative body can rescue England from an anarchy of weak Cabinets. The extent of that danger is proclaimed by the history of every free country. The Italian Republics, the Spanish Monarchy in its decline, the annals of the " oppressed nationalities," all teach the great truth that weakness in the rulers can blast a country as potently as a successful in- vasion, or a prolonged civil war. A State like England, free, quoud liberties, and great, quoad territory, can perish more rapidly from weak government than from any other cause. Para lyse its public mind, and it will only drag on a tottering existence, whose final consumma tion requires no science to foretel. It th the recognition of these broad t ruths that' We see grounds for hoping that the day is at hand when every Conservative with the heart of a patriot will see the necessity for sinking all minor and personal differences. Neutrality at such a crisis we hold to be im possible. If gentlemen with Conservative sympathies hold aloof from the party at large, they are mistaken in thinking that they are playing the part of neutrals. Gentlemen may be most conscientious in such conduct, but let them not deceive themselves by thinking that neutrality is practicable. Their influence and votes must be given on one side or the other. If they vote one way and think another, they expose themselves to the charge of having no real opinions ; and a party without convictions can never have followers. It is, therefore, with deep feelings of the solemnity of the present occasion that we THE PRESS. bring these views before our readers. It would be our most ardent wish that at such a thu the Conservative party should have the glory of delivering England from the chronic anar chy of weak government. Were the Con scrvat.lves prmly iinitoct no rival party coul overthroy them! lip - pfctirn and the count.* could algkis rely pn tioff sterling principles and coinwanding influence. The safety of pzi g htol it to be pcmiiht I R the union of Con sdrvativ'es. SPECIMEN OF " STRONG" GOVERNMENT. LORD PALMERSTON opposed Lord GODERICR'S motion respecting purchases in the army. The House divided, when there appeared for the motion 114, and against it 168, giving the Ministers a majority of 44. Upon examina tion we find that the majority was composed of 87 Derbyites, and 71 Ministerialists, the ex- Ministers and their followers included. Had, therefore, the Derbyites abstained from voting, the Ministers would have been (Waited in this, their first division, by 43 ! If this be a strong Government, we should be glad to hear the definition of a weak one. THE OLD " OLD WHIGS " AGAIN. THE present Ministry," said a wit of the Liberal party, "is a grand triumph •' of Brookes's over the Reform Club !" and so it certainly seems. We suppose that the memory of unpropitious banquets, and the recollection of some wild speeches, in which a certain Baronet gave permission for declaring war still haunts the mind of our Cabinet Ministers. It is evident, at least, that the Liberals of -- Pall-mall have been avoided on the present occasion, for Brookes's has completely ignored their existence. In past years, when Mr DISRAELI described the Whig mode of government as " Venetian," his opinions were contradicted, and Liberals, blinded by their prejudices, refused to confess that they were political serfs to a supercilious oligarchy. Would the members of the Reform Club, with the list of the Palmerston Cabinet before them, now hesitate in confirming the appropriate ness of the epithet " Venetian " t?the actual system of the Whigs ? But, examined even by a Whig standard, the present Ministry is a complete delusion. It cannot be accepted in any sense as " a new " Cabinet. It is a mere resuscitation of the Russell Ministry, which twice sunk from de bility. From '46 to '52 the country was under the feeble rule of a Cabinet in which Lord Join; and Viscount PAL MERSTON were the principal persons. They are placed again at the head of affairs. With all his elaborate artifices, and in spite of in genious contrivances, Lord PALMERSTON cannot make himself younger. Ever since he has labcome Prime Minister he has lost popu rity, and by his vacillation damaged himself. His opposition, in the first instance, to the Committee of Inquiry, and his wavering after wards have compromised his reputation. In his best days he was overrated, and his career illustrates the sentiment of VOLTAIRE, that there are men who shine in the second rank, but are eclipsed in the first. Lord PALMERS TON has not ono of those dominating na tures required for being the man of a great crisis. Affable, adroit, and accomplished, his personal popularity (aided by certain social advantages incident to his private position , has always deceived the crowd. We recollect the noble Viscount expatiat ing, in one of his lively addresses at Tiverton, upon the love of England for what ever is "old." He took " Bradshaw's Railway Guide," and was vastly pleasant on all the advertisements with the prefix of " old." Ho was alarmingly funny in his narrative about the two inns on the Thames, " The Old Hats," and its more constant rival " The Old Old Hats." The facetious Viscount sparkled over the topic most agreeably, and exhibited his fitness for companionship over wine and walnuts. In another speech else. where, less amusing and far abler, his Lord- SATURDAY, ship distinctly showed, however, that mere age has no merit in his eyes. The Viscount was then in a satiric mood, and said something tl i concerning I antique 4!! iittbecility." But, possibly in another of is vacillating fits, his thi Lords hstv again erg races' the prejudice for tiqul , gkitd surrounded illpaself with none lit 014 Nos. if he want !‘ a cry" for the ttstinm oqr ple!isp r t Vre9ffir may slily tell s SeEfetary for the rewy to advertise the present Minfsters as the real " Old Old Hats of Downing-atreet." But it is Pan that such worn-out Whigs will not answer for ruling England in the middle of 1 , 119 nineteenth century. PIO Cabinet 114 8 not a following in the "louse of Commons of more than a hundred and fifty members. It contains no men of new blood in its family circle. As usual, the Whig Ministers are all related to each other. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER is the brother-in-law of the Secre tary for Foreign Affairs. The Grey cousin hood has appropriated the Secretaryship for the Home Office and the Admiralty. The Duke of ARGYLL, the Earl of CARLISLE, and Lord GRANVILLE, form a rival cousinhood of their own, retaining amongst them the Privy Seal, the Viceroyalty of Ireland, the Presi. dency of the Council, along with the Leader ship of the House of Peers. Routine and family connection have dictated all the ap pointments. And though far from friendly to " class" cries, we must protest against the intensely exclusive character of the present most aris tocratic Cabinet. In " old Tory times" there were always in the Government five or six gentlemen with the prefix of " Mr.," who had won their way in the world by their own talents. Thus in Lord LIVERPOOL'S Cabinet we see the names of Mr. CANNING, Mr. PEEL, Mr. ROBINSON, Mr. VANSITTART, Mr. HUSHISSON, Mr. WYNNE, and Viscount SIDMOUTH, who commenced life as plain Mr. ADDINGTON. Even Lord PALMERSTON must recollect that he sat in one of the innumerable Cabinets, which he joined along with Mr. HERRIES, Mr. TIERNEY, Mr. GRANT, and Mr. STURGES BOURNE. Com moners of that class are not " high" enough for the ultra-patrician school of mock " Li berals !" They would be pleasantly told, with a lively laugh and a bantering tone, to be off, and be—happy in the Reform Club. They must not presume to aspire to the honours of the Cabinet, or to companionship with the Paladins of Brookes's. We often wondered at the formality of the publication of the names of the diners at the Vox Club. Their advertisement is, possibly, a tribute to the principle of publicity, to show us the system of Whig Cabinet making. The Anna of Court have reformed the system of eating a man's way to the Bar. The people of England will, before long, demand that their rulers be elected by a more rational pro cess than that of keeping a certain number of term-dinners with the " old Whigs" of the Fox lub. ANTI-PROTESTANT POLICY. WE have no hesitation in saying that the most remarkable of all the arrangements con nected with the present Ministry are the sin gular nomination to the legal offices in Ireland. We are convinced that the people of England will not learn with pleasure that the Roman Catholics now rule with undisputed sway at Dublin Castle. Mr. WILLIAM KEOGH, late chief of the " Brigade," is now her Majesty's Attorney General for Ireland. Mr. J. D. FITZ GERALD, another Roman Catholic barrister, is the Solicitor-General for the same country, and Mr. CORBALLIS, also a Roman Catholic, is " counsel to the Castle." Thus three Roman Colon° legal appointments , are made against one Protestant—Lord Chancellor BRADY This is a totally new system, and we have yet to learn how far the public will approve of it. Even in the days of O'CONNELL and Lord NORMANBY there was always a Protestant coupled with a Roman Catholic barrister in the important department of Crown Prosecu tors. But Lord PALMJCBSTON, who Judd office ~s. -