The Press.
London, England, 1855-05-12 00:00:00

LONDON, SATURDAY, MAY 12, 1855.

and has naturally the strongest interest in the
cause of good government.
Lord ELLENBOROIJOB, by his proposed
Address to the Crown, will appeal to the
House of Lords on Monday for its opinion
on the policy which should be pursued
at the present crisis. No. time could
be more fitting for the expression of such
opinion ; nor is there any man who could more
appropriately and confidently call it forth than
Lord ELLENBOROUGH.

The public mind at this time is languishing
for want of direction. A kind of political
scepticism prevails from the people not know-
ing in what they should believe. The body
politic is sick, but they do not know its
disease. They discern a great evil, but can
think of no remedy. If legitimate science
does not aid them, they will seize the first
nostrum which offers. Irresolute, and divided
by individualisms in interest and sentiment,
the Commons remain passive when their
activity is most needed. There is for the
time no power in the country which can
exercise a decided influence on principles of
government, should the House of Lords
decline to do so. But the chaos cannot
remain ; some shape it will assuredly take.
Opinion is essentially active ; it will embody
itself in movement of some kind ; and if the
Legislature declines its functions they will
be assumed in some form or other by popular
associations. The Lords have it now in their
power to remove by a single vote the impres-
sion of their past apathy, and to take the lead
in concentrating the force and in directing
the intelligence of the nation.
Lord ELLENBOROVOH is emphatically the
man designated by his vast administrative
talents, past career, and military genius, to
pronounce a judgment on the conduct of the
war, and the rules which should prevail in the
selection of public servants from the highest to
the lowest. His proposed Address is extremely
moderate, but it affirms two great and lead-
ing points—that " the conduct of the war has
" occasioned general dissatisfaction, and given
" rise to just complaints," and that " it is only
" through the selection of men for public
" employment, without regard to anything
" but the public service, that the country can
" hope to prosecute the war successfully."
The fact of mismanagement is too patent to
be denied, the principle of selection too sound
to be impugned. Yet the closing paragraphs
of the Address are undoubtedly a severe cen-
sure upon the past and present Governments,
as the fact of mismanagement is the result
of their incapacity--and the sound principle
of selection has been continually violated by
them that they might throw a sop to the
hungriest of their Whig or Radical supporters.
What has become of Sir JAMES URAHAM'S
indecent boast, that in the Baltic and the
Euxine Reform Admirals bore the flag of
England at their mast-heads ?
The Address of Lord ELLENBOROUGH does
not directly raise the question of Administra-
tive Reform, but it affirms the best ground on
which such Reform can be based—the selec-
tion of men, irrespective of family connection
and Parliamentary jobbing, adequate to the
functions they have to fulfil. A vicious ruling
influence becomes stronger the longer it is
permitted, and Giilldrigs and mannikins
become more dwarfed in proportion as they
become more exclusive. What will be the
stature of that breed of statesmen which the