The Press.
London, England, 1857-04-25 00:00:00

THE WEEK.

Wz are now on the eve of the coining session, and there is a brief pre-
liminary pause before the business of the nation is commenced. The
circumstances under which the Prime Minister meets Parliament aro
peculiar. He has a great nominal majority, but he has ambitious
rivals in his own connection, and he has no Ministerial debaters
capable of contending with the leading speakers of Parliament, who are
either avowedly hostile to his rule, or who regard him with the caustic
cynicism of a cordial friendship. A quarter of a century since a far
greater Ministerial party broke up before the difficulties of divided
Reformers. Lord PALMERSTON is now like a traveller at a junction of
four cross-roads. He is evidently uncertain which to take himself,
and he hesitates about the contradictory advises which are obtruded
on him. Let him advance, and he does not know whether he will find
himself amongst friends or foes. Let him tarry where he stands, and
he runs the risk of being " too late."
The three great domestic departments of the State—the ecclesias-
tical, the political, and the social—are those which principally mark
the action of the Legislature. It is a mistake to suppose that by his
clinical promotions the Minister has escaped from religious difficulties.
He has evoked a spirit in the land which will not disappear at his
bidding. His Cabinet was defeated last year on an important educa-
tional question brought forward by Mr. WALPOLE ; and the strange
rumours circulated by some non-political followers of Lord PALMERS-
TON show that uneasiness exists in Ministerial quarters. The claims
of the Prime Minister as a " Protestant" Premier may be tested by
some of the " Palmerstonians" more frequently and more forcibly than
will be pleasing in official circles. There is reason to think that the
elected Parliament is more Protestant than its predecessor.
In the political department it will probably be attempted " to
" waste a year," ard do nothing. The brevity of the session, so
adroitly interrupted, will he pleaded as an excuse for offering nothing
large; and the Minister will fall back on that reserve which he has
often relied upon, " the chapter of accidents." Already the cue has
been given to the supporters of Government. "Eschewing organic
" changes, the Government of Lord PALMERSTON would endeavour
"to meet the necessities of existing circumstances without
" disturbing the fundamental principles of order and society."
This, then, according to Sir G. LEwis, is the Liberal programme !
This is the great Reform Minister. Oh! On social questions
this plea cannot be accepted ; and the opinion of Parliament will,
probably, be heard in tones of imperative energy. If Lord PALMERSTON
be a great statesman, will he content himself by trying to rule England
with a Cabinet of his " appendages" ? Will he strive to hide the faults
of the mediocre administrators, who occupy rather than fill the chief
places in the Cabinet? A Minister with a majority has no excuse for
deference to cliques, or submission to coteries.

There has been a great jubilee of Liberals this week—from the
brief and complacent cackle of Lord JOHN RUSSELL to the ponderous
fictions of Sir GEORGE LEWIS, and the obstreperous gratulations of
Mr. HUTT, Mr. PEASE, and Lord HARRY VANE. Lord JOHN RUSSELL is
very severe on the gloomy and unfulfilled predictions of Conserva-
tives. The intellectual Mr. Hurr is equally unkind to them upon
their " purposeless obstruction." A casual observer might, perhaps,
be led to consider whether it was not precisely because the
obstruction had not been purposeless that their worst
anticipations had not been realised. The Conservatives fore-
saw that after the Reform Bill, a number of enemies to the
institutions of the country would inevitably gain seats in the House.
Hence their gloomy predictions. That at that moment they over-
rated the strength of the Radicals, and proportionably underrated
their own, is exceedingly probable. Hence the successful resistance
offered to organic changes, and the non-realisation of their original
fears. The extraordinary manner in which the Conservative party
rallied after the event of 1832, is one of tho most remarkable facts in
our political history. Had it not been for that, scant grace would have
been shown to the Church of England and Ireland. Even Liberals admit
that it is interesting to compare the tone in which the Church and
the Peerage are spoken of now, and twenty years ago. To
what is this change owing? To the "purposeless obstruction "
of the Conservatives! says Mr. Hu•ST. Mr. HUTY should
learn to look before he leaps, and weigh the value of words before
he uses them, especially upon topies with which he seems so ill-
acquainted as the Pailiamentary history of the last quarter of a
century. So long as deliberate attacks continue to be made on the
Church, the Peerage, and the succession to landed estates, the opposi-
tion of the Conservatives will not be purposeless.

The recent decision of Sir JOHN DODSON in the case of Archdeacon
DENISON is so far satistactory as being the termination of another stage
in this extremely painful proceeding. Mr. DITCHER has given notice
of an appeal ; and the case has still to be heard before the highest
tribunal of all. The determination to fight these matters
out is indicative of that kind of earnestness which just now Lord
PALMERSTON'S organs find it convenient to admire. But we cannot
Viink any good will result to the Church from these unseemly con-
tests We most sincerely desire that everything should be done to
di4o.litrage the foolish vanity of individual clergymen or laymen who
'Peek to gain a spurious popularity by advocating popular prejudices.
Should the ultimate decision of this case be against Mr. DITCHER, we
hope it will act as a warning to litigous and presumptuous clergy not
to question their ecclesiastical superiors in the light and easy way

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