The Press.
London, England, 1854-05-27 00:00:00

482

" the benefit of Roman Catholics, and of those
" members of our Church who were restless
" upon the question of supremacy." Mr. GLAD-
STONE felt himself pointed to as the real author
of the measure, and rose to defend it. He did
not even affect to treat the bill as principally
relating to the Jews. His whole argument
was directed to show that the oath of supre-
macy ought to be abolished, aiid that Roman
Catholics should sit in that }lease unfettered
by the pledge which they had themselves pro-
posed as a sufficient- security against their
ever attacking the Protestant Establishment.
Mr. GLADSTONE'S over-tender conscience sym•
pathised with their difficulties. He regarded
those " clauses which relate to the maintenance
".of _the .Established Church as neither more
" nor less than a trap for conscience ;"• and he
elt " that his Roman Catholicjbrethren had a
claim to his sympathy and to his aid, in
" relieving them from the necessity of taking
" an oath which bound them to obligations, the
nature of which, if he were a Roman Catholic,
" he confessed he should feel himself at a loss
" how to construe."
It was impossible that the House could
misunderstand the true object of the Bill
after these avowals. The division was really
called on the question whether the oath of
supremacy and the Roman Catholic oath were
to be abolished in deference to the views of
that party of which the CHANCELLOR of the Ex-
CHEQUER is the champion ; and the intense and
prolonged enthusiasm with which the an.
nouncement of the numbers was received
evinced the delight of the House at this signal
defeat of Gladstonism.

If Lord Jonx RUSSELL has any of that self-
respect for which the world gives him credit,
how deeply must he feel the degradation of
his position. He entered the Cabinet without
office solely to carry two measures—Reform
and an Oaths Bill. The first he withdrew,
but not without expressions of respect and
sympathy ; the second—in spite of the
strenuous efforts of the Ministry—is defeated
amid a tumult of rejoicing. The Coalition
which made him its tool is now willing that
•he should be its victim. The unpopularity of
Mr &LADSTONE is visited on his shoulders ;
- and the author of the " Durham Letter," which
nobly appealed to the Protestant feeling of the
country, now stands the defeated leader of a
movement to forward the aggression he then
so indignantly denounced.

• THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE AS A
SECRETARY OF STATE.
. A► WAR against Brobdignag, carried on by Secre-
taries of State from Lilliput, is too ridiculous
, even for the conceit of the Coalition. It would
„appear, by the articles in a leading journal of
.Wednesday and Thursday, that the banisters
in Downing-street are to be oiled, so as to
, enable the mediocrities to slide down to a
. lower level, and Lord PALMERSTON is pointed
to as a War Minister, vice the Duke of NEW-
CASTLE, to be cashiered. It is discovered that
a red-tapist respectable as a clerk becomes
ridiculous as a ruler.
By his evidence before the Stonor Com-
mittee, his Grace of NEWCASTLE has com-
, promised his reputation as a man of mere
• routine, and he has hopelessly invalidated
• his claims to the premiership of Little Ped-
- lington. " Mr. STONOR'S application," says the
Duke, " was received on the 30th of November,
-" 1853. He was not appointed until the 20th
•" of December. That delay had been caused
• " by his (the Duke's) anxiety to find a more
•"• qualified candidate." Thus we have from his
Grace's own lips the statement that he took
several weeks to commit his deliberate blunder.
:With all his " anxiety," he took no notice of
r• the printed statement about the Sligo bribery,
. enclosed to him by Mr. STONOR. "If I saw it
14 at all," says his Grace, " I doubtless consi-
• :"'dered it another testimonial." Admirable
• vigilance ! After a long pause he appoints
Mr. STONOR, but that gentleman, like another
v selection of his Grace's (Mr. JOHN SADLEIR), is
removed after a few weeks. Convicted of a
1: serious mistake, the Duke pleads ignorance of
L Mr. STORM'S antecedents. But Mr. MILRIVALE,

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