The Press.
London, England, 1857-12-05 00:00:00

PALMERSTON'S colleagues as being able aml
successful legislators. The best of them can-
not be rated as being higher than clever men,
ready at routine and decently fluent. But
what are the pretensions of their chief as a
legislator?
Lord PALMERSTON at no period of his pro-
tracted career was ever distinguished as a law-
giver. There never was any eminent member
of the House of Commons who sat so long a
time in Parliament, and whose name was so
little linked with the legislation of his age.
To administer an established system, rather
than to create a new one, has been the vocation
of the Premier. His genius in politics is
more active than fertile, more ready to keep
people about him in constant agitation than to
build new social structures or remodel ancient
establishments. At no time was Lord P.ti.-
MERSTON ever distinguished fur embracing a
large principle, and adhering to it in face of
an adverse majority. With all his cleverness
and his personal talent for keeping upon his
legs, while never joining any one party, there
is, it must be confessed, a vast amount of
commonplace in the mind and character of
Lord PAntErtsroN. After the occasion of mak-
ing them has passed away, the Premier's
speeches are useless for reference. They dis-
play no profundity ; they enforce no high
political ethics ; they appeal to no wide or
permanently pervading class of emotions. To
veer skilfully with the ephemeral changes of
passing opinion is not to divine the character
of an era or to discern the destiny of an
empire.
A mind of this order is not suited for
directing Parliament in original legislation for
India, or in positively settling a complicated
question like Parliamentary Reform. We rate
very highly the address of Lord PALmEasTos ;
and there can be no dispute on the fact that he
has had great social and personal success in
life. But as a statesman and a politician, the
Premier took an enormous time to arrive at
his present exalted position ; nor could he
have obtained it if Lord JOHN. RUSSELL had
not been untrue to himself, or if the NVilig
party had not been wanting in leading intel-
lects. The fall of the Duke of NEWCASTLE and
the absence of leaders at the Liberal aide, with
the long experience of Lord PALMERSTON,
rather than any striking fitness for his post,
placed him in the Premiership. He is a
Prime Minister, not by party connection, nor by
superiority of talents, nor by the favour of the
Court, but simply by accident.

Can it therefore be cause for wonder that
with such a man nominally the leader of the
Liberals, there should be so much distrust. and
uneasiness in the various sections of the Liberal
party? At such a time, and with the stupen-
dous problem of legislation for India before
the Queen's advisers, we should be prepared
to expect much divergence of opinions. But
society has heard of more than animated dis-
cussions inside the Cabinet. It is no secret
now that there have been bickeriugs, dis-
putes, and decided antagonisms. The waiters
on Providence who have supported Lord
PALMERSTON are beginning to be very uncom-
fortable, and politicians who have staked
their credit with the Cabinet are changing
their tone. The nomination of Lord ST.
GERMANS to succeed so stanch a Whig as
Earl SPENCER is certainly of much significance.
Lord ST. GERMANS has been a Cabinet Minis-
ter and a Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. As a
canvasser for a new combination and a courtly
promoter of Ministerial alterations, the (Alice
of "Lord Steward" gives great advantages.
The post was at one time considered as not
beneath the acceptance of the Marquis of
WELLESLEY.

The Liverpool Ministry, under which Lord
PALMERSTON served his long apprenticeship
from 1812 to 1827. was a series of personal
combinations under one political head. The
idea of a Cabinet of transmutation is probably
in Lord PALMERSTON'S mind ; and the progress
of his Ministry, if he retain office, may see him
with a new assortment of colleagues. Such a
finale would be a fitting termination to his
career as a " Minister of unavowed comhina•
tions." But the time has long gone by when
we could hope that Lord PALMERSTON could
display the talents of a legislator on so great
a scale as is demanded by this crisis.