The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-07-30 00:00:00

spirit, but as dealing with facts which are now
historical.

The Government atteinpts to' excuse itself in
the face of the present state of matters by plead-
ing that the session has been occupied with busi-
ness of great importance. Now, what, let us ask,
was that business ? When we name the Com-
mercial Treaty and the Reform Bill, -we specify
the two measures which have chiefly occupied the
time of the House. Upon these the session has
been wasted. These are the " important " mea-
sures upon which the Government rests its plea of
"not guilty" of culpable trifling and neglect of
duty. How are we to estimate the real value
and importance of these measures, and determine
how far they exculpate the Ministry ? By the
circumstances which called for their introduction ?
By the character of the measures introduced ?
Or by the results of their discussion ? Whether
tried by any or all of these tests, • how far can it
be said that the Government have justified their
conduct ?

What were the circumstances which called for
the last Reform Bill and for the Commercial
Treaty ? They were simply these. Her Ma-
jesty's Ministers, on the eve of their accession to
power, laid down two principles upon which.they
demanded that Lord DERBY should resign the
reins of power in their favour. First : it was
declared that there should be a reform of the
House of Commons, upon a more democratic scale
than that which the late Government thought
desirable. Secondly : that Lord DERBY'S con-
tinuance in power endangered our friendly rela-
tions with France. To produce a democratic
Reform Bill, therefore, and to cement our alliance
with France, were the two great objects with
which the present Cabinet charged itself; and
accordingly we were favoured with a Commercial
Treaty with France, and with Lord JOHN Rus-
SELL'S latest Reform Bill. Now, these being the
circumstances, what character properly attaches
to them, viewed in the light of subsequent events ?
Were Ministers correct in their estimate as to the
wishes of the House, or of the country, for a more
democratic Reform Bill than Lord DERBY'S ; or,
has it been demonstrated that they were egre-
giously wrong ? How far have ministers Shown
themselves unitedly and perseveringly sincere in
their professed conviction as to the truth of the
principle upon which they Undertook to reform
the House ? Then, again, were they warranted
in professing that they alone, and not Lord
DERBY, could effectually cement our alliance with
France ; or do we now find ourselves in a deci-
dedly less amicable position towards that country
than when Lord DERBY quitted office ? If kiiii--
ters have been at fault on these main points—and
who can doubt it ?—the present Government has
been formed upon n false basis ; and the circum-
stances which led to the introduction of the
Reform Bill and the Commercial. Treaty, instead
of constituting a vindication of their course of
procedure, amount to a condemnation.
"Was there anything in the character of these
measures to compensate for the unworthy circum-
stances which called them into being ? We shall
not enter particularly into the demerits of either.
The country was quite sick of hearing about-
the miserable little Reform Bill long before it
was withdrawn. It scarcely, found favour any-
where. As to the, Commercial Treaty, while it
was undoubtedly received at first with•no small
amount of acclamation, it is, now an object of
regret, mortification, and apprehension to every
man. Even 'now we can scarcely estimate all
its evils. Could anything be clearer than that it
is in consequence of Government 141:}yimg been
formed on false principles, whereby they haVe
been forced to introduced ill-timed, unfortunate,
and unhappy measures—whether in the shape of
a Commercial Treaty or a Reform Bill—that a
Whole session has been wasted ?

Bad in their origin, and equally bad in their
development, they have been correspondingly
unfortunate in their career. These " important "
Ministerial propositions, whose discussion has
occupied so much time that ought to have been
devoted to other and really "important" points,
have either totally failed and been withdrawn,
or have partially succeeded, and, while only
partially successful, have proved in a great degree
disastrous. We shall not dwell upon the fact
that the Reform Bill, to carry which her Majesty's
Ministers assumed office, was abandoned under
disgraceful circumstances. As to the success of the
Commercial Treaty and the state of our relations
with our French neighbours, the present project
for expensive fortifications is the best comment.
There can be no doubt against whom these
fortifications are to be raised. Lord PALMERSTON
has declared that they are inten4ed to protect us
from our only acknowledged enemy—France.
To the forming a Government on false principles,
then, we repeat, and to the necessity for intro-
ducing' measures to vindicate those false prin-
ciples, are to be attributed the waste of public
time of which we complain, and the almost scan-
dalous position in which we now find the Legis-
lature of
England. Not content ha,ying
treated
the Government of the country as if it
had been a game at shuttlecock, weeks and long
months have been wasted by the Whig-Radicals
in attempting to carry out that illusory -pro-
gramme, which was the pretext by which a
change of Government was effected, and the only
result has been the lqwering of the House of
Commons and Representative Government gene-
rally in the estimation of the people of this
country and of the world. Or if indirectly any
good has come out of this unhappy state of
matters, it has been by having aroused the Con-
servative feelings of the country, and convinced
all that the resignation of Lord DERBY'S Cabinet
was a real affliction to the natibit, and that the
sooner he is recalled to power's() Much the better
for our future progress and national security-.