The Express.
London, England, 1852-02-21 00:00:00

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LONDON, SATURDAY. FEBRUARY 21.

SIONATION OF TILE MINISTRY.

Tmt ministers have resigned—not upon a broad
question of national policy or of parliamentary reform,
but era a difficulty whether theSerty-second or the
fifty-eighth of Gamma TIE THIRD should be re-
furbished for present use! Them was a significant
muter on the tory benches in the House of Com-
mons yesterday evening, and the haithele of the
piece scented the mischief in the wind. In due
time Lord Joao RUSSELL rose to propose his militia
plan. He desired to have what be considered a con-
stitutional means of defence for the country, and
thought that a local militia was the best mode
of providing. it. With much Ingenuity he put
his proposition before his hearers, but through
the whole explanation there shone out two great
errata of
.policy—two great mistakes—the one potent
for evil in the eyes of the liberals, the other still
more fraught with mischief in the tory view
of the subject. The economists could see the
broad absurdity of making bid soldiers of useful Me-
chanics, to be ready three months hence to meet a
danger said to be imminent ; whilst practical members
of the tory party saw the insufficiency of a weak
local force, when compared with such a militia as
England mated dunng the last war. And far
more than that, Lord Deane% followers saw also, in
the dispute before them, a chance of upsetting the
whigs, and getting their places. With an audience
to a large extent thus mentally prepared
to resist his arguments, the minister went
on detailing his plans, and when ho had
finished his story, upetood his ex-colleague., Lord
PALMERSTON, to knock down all he had striven to
raise. Lord PALMERSTON had no official reserves to
check him. and on he went, ',prating to the fears
of those who dream of invasion, and to the
patriotism of such as desire such " glory "as the
French are fond of. His address might be called
a genuine " Rule Britannia oration," well adapted
to his audience, well sprinkled with cleverness, and
eminently " telling "in its effect. He was cheered'
loudly, especially—as an honourable member re-'
marked—by the landlords behind him, who lived
in Kent and the south counties. Lord PAL-
MERSTON, with glossy compliments, and well
turned sentences, declared his respect for the minis-
ter and his plans. All he wished was to sub-
stitute one statute of Glows 111. for another;
to make the militia really an efficient force; maw
ablo from one part of the kingdom to moodier.
It was only a word—forty-two for fifty-eight. But
that word was fated to upset the ministry. The
that followed Lord PALMERSTON'S told
" Divide, divide," was the muttered
Inkentglim from the well filled tory burls.;
Lad Macias HILL was industrious, but unsisesser
Mthe mike were not at their posts, the bell rung,
as lbs deiced division - in a house of 251 mem-
buseelted JOHN RUSSELL was left in a minority of
U. Aby hasty words of inquiry, explanation, and
vcdoisder sad then the loud cheers of the tories told
hew gAtithey received from the Prime Minister
sea int* that he felt bound to resign.
Th• it bather breaks the back of the camel,"
says the Bah His last folly broke down Lord
Join Itientes cabinet. He tampered with
the gaihiese. and tried the endurance, and scorned
the evangel of the men who advised him wisely,
wheat they refused to flatter his mistakes. What
sight had he to ask for militiamen, when the
gauntry was paying many millions a year for regular
ships, and seamen? To these paid forces the
are entitled to look for national defence—to
mighty ships, and the good seamen, and the gal-
katry that, in the hour of peril, has ever been ready
and true—to the drilled soldiers of the line, of
• by the men who have seen service abroad in
the last war and in the many colonies of
Oesat Britain. And if this navy and this
easeg are not ample, when properly stationed
asee the most, then the minister Asa& Dave
assqlsil fY *se offer of those thousands d young
M vim midi their services in the sassed de-
ems, as imbed d die oorpe. But as. Lord
Joint Rom= would try a militia. The anatry in
the present state of Europe was neb sum, he
tht. At any moment we might he la danger;
anill stave ell what might affect us tied& his
pin was to organise 80,000 striplings, who would
Mil day to fight in a few mosibe time.
Jubilees and. and as well es ay raw
Ber—for diffetestii—but
las &dye to is Gerhart imoal be
use, ••••any Wait sack London twise ever be-
Imo had militiann mil be ballotted hay enrolled,
einis need, sae la ode ready he lighting
sad &hallos a invading samiy. Thu
the bone am s Noe was weak, and
his easy et be would have a iodide--
aid lobs gdidisb d
Sat fitib7 was deny strong, and why should
Led, Paidadosos ask la abblish ainstal ad-
lids brie isslsad d a bed ems to sae why, ca
a east et sash a *samba amid s naktrY
P I&l64.lesbinet4.4hei bomb isms um la sallisei—so
dad is Res lir
hiss d absadiswilA bat en istElt
Ztiit Ass sus emida evident %-
WY ellb. Sp take tilt lit ilt, it
is Jed Nib that Teed Jon asso&L
ter a erlis aa els subject to sir as Ss
Cape irk" Wan ths Loft AO .mosi
unitedly itakdasable to his dna ea iss~l eatat
militia; saA--isft fat shinity d diudt+-bs Posy
iam the " resignation which bre Kenn, night
net WA it neomsary under the dreaminess to
essope. Should this be so; and should Lord PAL-
311MRTON not join Lard DERBY in forming a Cabinet,
Lard Jose, coming back again to office, may turn
to the liberals with the 'exclamation, " If you do
not import me as a party, I shall hand the reins to
the iselis." Such ululations may have rendered
his ben inswilliug to meet the event of lost night
thee the world might imagine.
Be this, however, as it may, the tory muster in the
Muse int sight to do the work they effected is ex-
wlela the knowledge of the fact that Lord
rs,Labb idtleTCW and the Peehtcs were ready to sup-
port any attempt for damaging the ministry. They
could scarcely have expected how successful they
would be. The tactics of the ex-Foreign Secretary
are clear enough. Ho will have no local
militia—not for the reasons that urge the
liberals to reject it,—but from a widelydifferent motive.
A local militia in, as Lord JOHN Russell, declares, a
constitutional force. It might be called, indeed, •
body of armed county special timetables. It is a
force raised in a locality to be employed in that
locality, with local prejudices and tom' inefficiencies.
If good for anything, it would be—when drilled—
useful only for local contest. A general militia, on
the other hand, is, in truth, an addition to the
standing army of a mass of indifferent troops,
from which the line could be reernited—a
reservoir from which an efficient fighting army could
be fed. Such was the militia during the last war—
t contest the very naming of which points out what
Lord PALMERSTON had in view in all probability last
night. If that long and bloody contest which left the
bones of tens of thousands of Englishasea to whiten
on the fields of Spain, of France, and at Belgium,
and left us millions of debt to cripple our energies
and finance—if that long and sanguinary story of
foreign war teaches anything, it teethes bow
fond Eeglish governments have been at interfer-
ing with the business of foreign nations.
M e interfered to overthrow • BONAPARTE to
put up a Bourbon in his stead, at the oat of millions
sterling, and from the days of that costly interven-
tion we have ever had same small job of the sort on
hand—Syria, Portugal, Spain—nay, seen Lagoa
to wit. Igo man more ready at this work than my
Lord PALMERSTON. No man more prompt in
launching the forces of England spinet whomsoever
happened to do aught which seemed inimical to
' lis " foreign policy." In the presence of the danger
mid to exist from France; with the possibility of
Oellic legions marching upon Savoy or the Rhine, or
d the cliques of the Tudenes seeking, a la brother