The Press.
London, England, 1855-07-14 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

This, however, is no more than we did in the
case of Queen CHRISTINA of Spain and Queen
DONNA MARIA of Portugal, and than has been
done in respect of various princes in Europe
by various powerful Sovereigns, from the days
of CHARLEMAGNE to the present time. But
that the lending our aid to the deposition of a
hostile Sovereign, and the support of a com-
petitor more favorable to our views, should
confer upon us a right thereafter in all suc-
ceeding time to deal with the fundltmental
and recognised laws of succession in that
State as we please, is a claim so preposterous
as never to have entered into any but an
Indian Governatorial mind. A reference to
history will show that the true reason why, in
1818, we supported the right of the next of
kin to the throne of Nagpore, instead of annex-
ing the country ourselves, was that, in the
then powerful position of the other great
Mailman States, any attempt to annex Nag-
pore would have stirred up against us a con-
federacy so alarming as to have rendered it
difficult, if not impossible, to maintain the
conquests in India which we had already made.
Is it wise to show our native subjects that the
moderation which they then respected in us
was merely the result of our weakness, and
that in these days of our exaltation it is only
the worthlessness of a province that can save
it from our rapacity ? Are the people there so
blind as to be unable to draw a moral from the
rule as applied to the rich and flourishing
kingdom of Nagpore, and its exception as
exemplified in our dealings with the miserable
and poverty-stricken little State of Tehree,
situated in the unhealthy wilds of Bundel-
kund ?

DISCUSSION ON THE CIVIL SERVICE.
THE Parliamentary discussion on Mr. VIN-
CENT SCULLY'S motion this week induced
the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER to rise
on behalf of the Cabinet. He threw
cold water on the motion, and he did it in a
tone which indicated the Ministerial convic-
tion that Administrative Reform is only a
popular delusion. At another time his dry-
as-dust manner, his bookworm pedantry,
and his allusions to the precedents laid down
!by the Romans, would afford ample food for
mirth. A pedagogue passing for a politician,
a didactic expositor of past states of existence
put forward as a departmental Minister in an
age of tumultuous activity, is a ludicrous
illustration of the existing system. We never
hear Sir CORNEWALL LEWIS speak on a praeti •
cal subject without thinking what a satire
Dean Swirr would have penned upon " The
Great Unreadable " of our contemporary lite-
rature, turned into " The Great Unpractical "
of the Exchequer.

But the tone of Sir CORNEWALL LEWIS'S
speech on Tuesday is too serious a subject
for jocose observation. Our CHANCELLOR of
the EXCHEQUER was always believed to be a
partisan of the utilitarian school of political
economy, and his literary Whiggery has been
influenced by some mixture of philosophical
Radicalism. Yet this is the statesman who,
speaking as a Cabinet Minister, moved the
previous question on last Tuesday, proposing,
in pedantic English leading to a plain conclu-
sion, that the bore of Administrative Reform
should be quietly cashiered. The CHANCELLOR
of the EXCHEQUER seemed to think that the
time had already arrived for the Ministerial
" Massacre of the Innocents."

The spirit of the House of Commons, we
were glad to observe, was not in unison with
the supine spirit of the Cabinet. It was im-
possible to listen to the debate of Tuesday
without being convinced that Administrative
Reform must be practically dealt with by the
coming Cabinets. The question was brought
forward on Tuesday under some disadvantages.
Mr. VINOENT SCULLY'S Parliamentary position
did not well qualify him for the exposi-
tion of this important subject, and a long

655

personal discussion between the not too ac-
curate Mr. LINDSAY and the too unpolite Sir
CHARLES WOOD interfered with the flow of the
debate. Nevertheless, good was accomplished.
Certain persons were compelled to show their
colours on this question of the day. The
weakness and fallacies of the Ministerial view
of it were well exposed by Sir STAFFORD NORTH.
COTE, though his speech was rather too much
in the tone of a favorer of a bureaucracy ; and
Sir FRANCIS BARING proved how much vis
inerihe there is for the Administrative Re-
formers still to overcome.

Mr. GLADSTONE, however, made the principal
speech of the debate ; and we were anxious to
see how that subtle disputant would deal with
a subject offering so many topics for the dis-
play of his peculiar powers. His speech was
able and argumentative ; but we could not
help feeling how much more forcible it would
have been with more directness of style. We
remember no orator of Mr. GLADSTONE'S rank
who so often fails to clench his conclusion,
because even at the last moment he is re-
luctant to give the force of decided opinion.
After he has bored the hole, and driven in
the nail a long way, with uplifted hammer he
pauses on the last stroke. In this respect
he differs from the sledge-heaving force with
which Mr. DISRAELI strikes at a given object.
Thus on Tuesday we were reminded of the
more decisive way in which the Member for
Bucks pronounced on the subject of Adminis-
trative Reform. Three weeks since (June
17th) Mr. DISRAELI expressed his opinions on
the whole question with the emphasis of
strong conviction and deliberate thought, to
the effect " that great changes are necessary in
" the civil administration of the country ;"
and, not contenting himself with generalities,
the Member for Bucks asserted that "entrance
" into the Civil Service should not be obtained
" by nierefavoritiem, but by a real and substantial
" test of fitness ;" and his original suggestion
of " more spiritual rewards " far transcends in
force any of the guarded comments of Mr.
GLADSTONE on Tuesday. Vigour of will is all
that Mr. GLADSTONE wants to become a great
man ; but unfortunately it is a grievous defect
in his most accomplished nature that his
power of volition does not increase with his
years. Without will there cannot be resolu-
tion; and without a thoroughly determined
character a statesman will doom his party to
the curse of vacillation. Instability of design
is poorly atoned for by the highest ingenuity
of its apologist.

Parts, however, of Mr. GIADSTONE'S speech
on Tuesday were excellent, and told home
upon the House. The stupid fallacy that a
reform of the Civil Service would produce a
great many men above their work, was dis-
posed of by him by a bold interrogation—
" There might be a great many disappoint-
" ments under a new system, but are there no
" disappointments now ?" And nothing could
be stronger than the Right Honourable Gen-
tleman's account of the present state of the
Civil Service :—" Your public servant finds
" himself doomed to a life of mediocrity, to a
" life of dissatisfaction and discontent, which
" is, indeed, the chronic state of the Civil
" Service." These are strong testimonies from
a politician with the protracted experience of
Mr. GLADSTONE.
The Prime Minister wound up the debate
in a speech which showed that he had no
aptitude for the post of Leader of the House of
Commons. In the judicial power of giving a
condensed summary of the arguments in a
debate, and balancing the reasons at both
sides, Lord PALMERSTON was never a proficient.
Few speakers have ever been less instructive
in debate than the still gay and formerly clever
Viscount. He never had deep convictions of
any kind. A prescient sagacity as to the power
of true moral opinion, as distinguished from
ephemeral caprice, never influenced the public
life of the changeling Premier; and his tone on
Administrative Reform is but of the see-saw
conventional style, which means anything or
nothing, according to the convenience of the
speaker. We have no doubt that the Premier
thinks it a sad bore that he cannot scnd a
card to Administrative Reform, and smother
it quietly down amidst the feathers and
flounces of a fashionable reunion, oottit it

656

and make it ridiculous for "a season," and
then afterwards " cut" it with contempt.

But Administrative Reform does not come
in the shape of a parvenu, pushing for intro
duction into high life, and atoning by parasi-
tical servility to rank and title for degrading
compliances with vulgar clamour. The Con
servative Cabinet of Lord DERBY, through the
lips of its Leader in the Lower House, was the
first to proclaim the principle of Administra-
tive Reform ; and enough has been stated in
Parliament by Mr. DISRAELI to show that the
Conservative leaders were determined on a
practical and vigorous amendment of the
official system. The public is now becoming
thoroughly alive to that conviction ; and the
Conservative party, according to its principles,
will be prepared to maintain the Constitution,
while removing the blemishes which consider
ably detract from the vigour of the Executive
of England.