The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-12-04 00:00:00

FROM OUR LONDON CORRESPONDENT.

MONDAY MORNING.
THE past week has been one of which the occurrence of
stirringly popular events has not been the leading character-
istic. The Cabinet riddle has been so far read out that all the
unoccupied seats have at last received incumbents. The clever,
though crotchety, Duke of ARGYLL having formally under-
taken the surveillance and management of the Post-office, has
handed over the Privy Seal to the safe keeising of theTarl of
HAR.nowßv, who, in return, has given place to Mr. BAINES,
as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster; and Lord STANLEY,
of Alderley, without :materially changing his position in the
Ministry, has received a seat in the Cabinet. So far, then, the
Cabinet hand has been completed, the only new card added by
the new deal being Mr. LABOUCHERE. The constitution of
the Ministry is, on all hands, admittedly a sickly one; and
even the most arduous supporters of Lord PALMERSTON'S Ad-
ministration content themselves with limiting their expression
of confidence in its efficiency to a somewhat hesitating inter-
rogatory as to what his lordship could have done better, in the
circumstances. These parties, feeling the entire weight of the
ministerial responsibility in its merely personal sense, com-
pletely ignore all consideration of the circumstances which
placed Lord PALMERSTON not only in the position of Premier,
but which induced him to set aside the co-operation of Lord
DERBY, and the Conservative party, in forming an adminis-
trtaion which would have secured the confidence of the coun-
try, by arraying in its service the talent, as well as the repu-
tation, of its leading statesmen. The self-willed and short-
sighted leader of the heterogeneous band made his election of
colleagues in the face of the strongest practical admonition-
Every step towards consummating the arrangements which
he had only half planned has involved him in accu-
mulating difficulties. The ill-assorted band, of which he
hailed himself the chief, were jumbled and pegged toge-
ther with some care, but no adhesive quality, and the first
jolt of the machine threw the whole bevy into disorder.
C'est le premier pas qui coute, our worthy allies tell us in
a proverb applicable to the ordinary affairs of life, the first
hitch in the PALMERSTON Cabinet seems to be of that
enduring cast which will make its effects adhere to the body
so long as two joints of it remain together. By the recently
completed arrangements, the chairs around the Cabinet table
have all received occupants, but every one feels painfully that
the public departments have not, therefore, received compe-
tent administrative heads. Tame dulness is the predominating
characteristic of the Ministry. Lord PALMERSTON himself,
with scarcely another exception, is the only one who pos-
sesses the capability of placing even a common subject clearly
before the legislature and the country, and it is generally
admitted that, as at present constituted, the House of Com-

mons cannot be guided by such ability as the Cabinet can
boast of. In these circumstances, the parties who ingeniously
employ themselves in spinning ropes of sand find ministerial
safety in a dissolution of Parliament; and that appears, at
present, to be the panacea depended on for relieving the dead.
lock achieved through administrative incapacity. That it
will be speedily resorted to, seems an article of popular faith
at the present moment. How it will benefit the floundering
mediocres sho aspire to govern this great country, is by no
means so clear. The able men of all parties are well-known,
and they are already in Parliament. A new election is less
likely to change their views than to confirm their convictions,
and they are admittedly hostile to the pretensions of the men

who are ranged under the banner of Lord PALMERSTON.
The want of debating talent is felt and acknowledged to be
a weak point of the present Administration—a greater defect
is known to be the absence of statesman-like views, and ad-
ministrative ability. How a new election is to supply them with
any of those missing qualities, is a difficulty which, no doubt, has
occupied the attention of the noble Premier, but whether he
sees his way through it or not, seems locked up in that limbo of
human vanities,, the bosom of a checkmated and ambitious leader,
who cannot procure a decent following. The experiment
it seems to be generally admitted is about to be tried. It is
at least, under the present circumstances of the case, a kill or
cure remedy. If successful in mitigating the urgent circum-
stances of the Ministerial malady, the nerveless and emaciated
patient may drag on a hopeless and helpless existence for a
brief space longer ; if unsuccessful in affording even such tem-
porary relief, the veteran prize-fighter of the political ring
must retire to Broadlands, and henceforward content himself
with that kind of view of politics which is said to confer
enchantment on the landscape. This latter alternative is the
one most currently believed in well-informed circles as likely
to ensue, and in contemplation of it all parties are busy in
their preparations.

While domestic politics have occupied a large share of public-
attention in the metropolis and elsewhere, during the past
week, they have not so exclusively formed the subject of dis-

I:teer et°. n Paler iiifanitlegeßiPlev ert
other matters, which, under, other circumstances, are not

generally looked on as of such absorbing interest. Conspicuous
among those events which have demanded and received public
interest have been the arrival and reception of the King of
SARDINIA, who landed on our shores on Friday morning, and
shortly after noon made his advent in the metropolis, from
Dover, whence he had proceeded by railway. At the station

he was met with the courtesy and consideration befitting his
exalted rank, and the noble spirit he has evinced in joining
the Western Alliance in their endeavours to restrain within

due bounds the restless and dangerous ambition of Russia.
He was met by' Prince ALBERT and the civic authorities in

state. On emerging from the railway, and in his progress
through that portion of London which he had to traverse in

passing to the station of the Great Western Railway, he was re-
ceived with the most enthusiastic plaudits by the vast assem-
blages who lined the road,and occupied every point whence even

atolerable viewof the cortege could be obtained. His reception

by the British people was in all respects worthy of the occ;sion,,
and the distinguished recipient of the honour, In Vic Ton.
EMMANUEL, who, for the first timeorisited our island on Friday
last,the people beheld, not merely the spirited monarch, who,at
a critical moment, espoused the cause which they are deeply
committed to, but in him they also. saw one on whom the eyes
of his own countrymen were fixed as the champion of liberal
opinions and constitutional government before they hailed him.
as their sovereign—one who, with a firm hand, and an en-
lightened mind, repelled the blighting influence which.
jesuitry and priestly domination had established among hia

countrymen. His career, though brief, has not been undis-

tinguished ; and in military exploits he has already proved.
himself a skilful and valiant leader, having commanded a

division of the Piedmontese army in the celebrated Lombard.
campaign, in which capacity he did his duty with great gal:.

lantry and prudence. In his visit to our gracious QuEE.;he

is accompanied by two of his leading statesmen—:the Counts
AZEGLIO and CANOUR, the first an able advocate forctrae
liberty, which, with his pen, he disseminated a knowledge and
appreciation of, and subsequently, with his sword, vindicated
in the field.

If Friday was rendered remarkable by the reseßtion
accorded to the KING of SanDrmA, Thursday was made
more memorable still by a meeting held in Willis's.Rnmrs,
for the purpose of originating an hospital in honour, and to
be under the superintendence, of Miss NIGHTINGA.L.E. The
chair of this interesting meeting was occupied by his Royal
Ilighness the Duics of CAXBRIDGE, who acquitted himself

right royally on the occasion. The chief speakers, besides the

royal chairman, were the MARQUIS of LiNanowsz, Sir W.

HEA.THCOTE. Sir Joins PAKINGTON, Lord SZANIZY, and

the DUKE of ARGYIA. The addresses delivened were gene-

rally of a practical order, in which business took the

lead of rhetoric, to the manifest advantage of the

purpose for which the meeting was. convened. As
was to have been expected in such an assemblage, the disinter-

ested zeal and intelligent benevolence of Miss NIGIITINGA.LE

were the theme of every speaker, and each vied with his pre-
decessor in bestowing on her an acknowledgment of the.
general gratitude. Details of tho project were wisely avoided,
in the meeting, its general purpese being confined to a nem,
nition of the principle of Miss NICIUTIIOIS„LIeS great merits,
and the desire to commemorate these in a memorial which

shall be pleasing to her and useful to the community to, whose
well-being she has so sedulously devoted her time, her:ener
gies, and her wonderful tact and benevolence. One object of
the proposed institution is understood to be the establishment
of a training school for nurses, who by their initiatory educa-
tion shall be fitted to supply the places so often and.so detri-

mentally occupied by the Mrs. GAMP family of harpies. The
meeting was numerously attended by a brillida and highly
influential assembly, and the subscription which was by it.

recommended to be opened has started under such favourable
auspices as to afford fair ground of hope for its entire success..
Towards the conclusion of the year it not unfrequently
happens that the judges in our crimina courts see fd, as it
were, to review some principle of our criminal jurisprudence,
and, as also sometimes happens, to deliver themselves of singu-
lar dicta in reference to the principles reviewed. One of these
has just occurred in the case of JP.SEPIC BERRIVGE, who was
convicted on his own confession, of an attempt to shoot the
Rev. Mr. BROWN, at Leatheriugstone. BERRIDGE and the
clergyman, it appears, had, some twenty years ago, been on
terms of great intimacy. BERRIDGE has since then married,
and become the father of several childsen, and he has become
the victim of a delusion that the Rev. Mr..Buowx is the
father of those children, although it also appears that
that gentleman had hardly . ever seen Mrs., BERRIDGE.
Under the delusive impression referred to, BERRIDGE
wrote several threatening letters to Mr. BROWN, and
ultimately he resolved to shoot him in his pulpit, inti.
mating to• Mr. BROWN his intention of so doing. In
proof that he meant to do what he threatened, he entered the
church provided with balls and percussion caps, and likewise