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

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
pzightolit to be pcmiiht IR 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
tli
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!isprt 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 1148
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.