The Press.
London, England, 1858-01-02 00:00:00

THE PRESS, JANUARY 2, 1858.

with his latch-key. The scene would have a
broad richness of effect worthy of GILLRAY'S
pencil in former times. Even that great
genius who depicted " The Rake's Progress,"
had he lived in our times, would have. had a
fine subject in representing the political esca-
pades of Lord CLANRICARDE. The Noble Mar-
quis's speeches and proceedings have an un•
conscious flavour of Hogarthian humour. Re
outstrips the imagination of a pictolial
satirist, and, by the unflagging vivacity of his
ebullitions, he makes the attempts of pro-
fessional caricaturists appear tame in compa-
rison with his exposures of himself.
For what can have more exquisite irony than
Lord CLANRICARDE as a legislator for India?
He has now been for thirty years before the
public, and no legislative measures are asso-
ciated with his name. What, then, are his
personal or political merits, that. " the man of
GOD " should have brought him into the
Council of the Queen, at a time when the
whole Indian problem is to be laid before the
Legislature? Lord CLANRICARDE rides to
hounds as well as any man of his years in the
empire, and it is but justice to say that he
never minds being "spilt," whether in the
hunting-field or in the Senate. Careless of
the mud, the Marquis vaults into the saddle
again, and dashes forward with defiant auda-
city, and an enviable amount of nerve. He
has, also, a fair stock of Irish humour; and a
philosophic historian of our time, in a political
inventory of the resources of the living states-
men, marked down " wit and courage "
amongst the pros in favour of Lord CLANRI- •
CARDE. What was placed amongst the cons.
we need not state. But if Lord CLANRICARDE
were literally portrayed by Mr. LEVER, it is •
to be feared that the critics would tell the
novelist that his conception was too extrava-
gant, and that " nothing could be more fan-
tastic than Mr. LEVER'S notion of an Irish
" Nobleman, whom he calls Lord CLANRICARDL,
" rattling about the metropolis acting the part
" of a Wildblood in the days of Queen VICTORIA,
"and suddenly jumping into the Cabinet when
"the affairs of the empire were in difficulty."
There are sunrises and sunsets which seem so
out of the order of scenery, that a landscape-
painter would avoid trying to reproduce them.
So with Lord CLANRICARDE. He seems so out
of date in our time, that "tile accomplished
Marquis " would appear a grotesque piece of
invention if delineated in a satirical novel.
But, though scarcely fit to put in an Irish
novel, Lord PALMERSTON thinks him quite
proper in a British Cabinet. ItnennsrEa was
countenanced by his age and by his associates.
But we never heard that " Old Q." was made
a Cabinet Minister.

We are told, however, that the appointment
of this" accomplished Marquis" is attributable
to Canningism. We admire the genius of
GEORGE CANNING, and we are grateful for sonic
of the services which he performed for his
country in times of peril. Bat it is not right to
overload the ►uemory of the illustrious dead,
and extract from it vicarious merit, for the
sake of his surviving kindred. When the dis•
grace of the Walcheren Expedition occurred,
the fact of the general in command having
been the son of the great Earl of CHATHAM did
not save him from national condemnation ;
and Chatham was even a greater name than
that of Canning. We must ask, also, what is
the meaning of " Canningism" at the Liberal
side ? We know and reme►nber well what
" Canningism " was at the Tory side ; but we
cannot understand what it means in connec-
tion with Brookes's and the Reform Club.
Between " George-Canniugisin " and " Pain-
Canningism" there is certainly a wide diffe-
rence. GEORGE CANNING I►ad clear views and
a definite system ; Lord PALMERSTON drifts
from connection to connection. Wanting the
.firm basis of principle, the Premier fails back
upon the cliques. Taunted with having "no
party," the Noble Viscount calls himself a
" Canningite." He chooses a Speaker for the
House of Commons, not from personal apti-
tude, but from recollection of Mr. DENISON'S
having been a Canningite He.names a Go-
verner-General of India from similar reasons.
And now, when Lord JOHN ItussELi. and Earl
GREY are out of the Ministry, the Premier in-
vites Lord CLANRICARDE to join him, because