The Press.
London, England, 1857-04-18 00:00:00

WITH the exception of an Irish county the
General Election has now concluded, and
upon the whole we are convinced that the
Conservatives have no reason for dissatisfac-
tion. The bounds of the two permanent
parties of the realm are more clearly marked ;
the natural resources and compact unity of
the Conservative body appear in strong con-
trast with the large but loose elements of
motley Liberalism. In many important re-
spects the working of the Legislature will be
decidedly improved. The total destruction of
jarring sections, and the dispersion of several
conceited characters enamoured of their own
crotchets, will render the state of the House
of Commons more wholesome. The floor of
the House in the coming session will not, as
was too often the case in the last Parliament,
be crowded with gentlemen seeking to mount
their favourite hobbies. The efforts of an
Opposition in such a state of things will
arrest more undivided attention, and com-
mand more definite support. It is only a
question of time in political warfare when
numbers, wealth, and trained abilities,
organised in concert, and directed with deci-
sion, must obtain predominance and power.
The results of the election in the cities and
boroughs is especially remarkable. It gene-
rally happens that a Cabinet appealing to the
country gains in the towns, owing to the
number of " Government seats " which are
under the influence of official departments.
Such was not the case at this election. The
success of Government in the towns was
merely nominal, though extraordinary efforts
were made to gain seats. The counties which
have been lost to the Conservatives have only
recurred to their natural influences, and the
same result might have been anticipated in
most of them, even 4;f Lord PALMERSTON had
not been Minister. When there is no stirring
political question before the public mind,
when the feelings of the community are not
aroused by subjects like the New Poor Law in
'34, or the Protestant question in '37 and
'4l, it is only reasonable to expect that tradi-
tional names and territorial influences must
command success. Who can be surprised, in
times like the present, at the representation
of Northamptonshire (South), or of East
Norfolk, being assigned to persons with the
MUMS of Althorp and Windham? It is the
existence of those hereditary feelings which,
in spite of Liberal official ascendancy, secure
for the gentlemen of England such force in
the Legislature and such influence with
society at large. It may be observed, also,
that it is not likely that the Liberals will now
be so ardent as they were in the support of
Mr. LOCKE KING'S motion. They will, if wise,
prize their county seats, and not disparage
their possession by degrading the constitu-
encies.

Passing from these considerations, we must
observe that the difficulties of the present
Ministry are obviously commencing with their
majority. Their supporters have not similar
ends in view, and their organs profess hetero-

" done?" is vague- in tone, and wild in style ,
crude views are expressed in coarse sentences ;
the logic of the article is weak and incon-
secutive, and the rhetoric is a clumsy attempt
to substitute boisterous vehemence for flowing
eloquence. Lord JOHN RUSSELL is derided,
Mr. GLADSTONE is disparaged, and Lord PAL-
MERSTON is panegyrised. The disordered con-
dition of the Liberals is shown in the simple
fact that the character and claims of Lord
JOHN RUSSELL are sneered at in the once
celebrated "blue and buff." The cloud dark-
ening over the Prime Minister's head is
awkwardly indicated by the intemperate re-
viewer. While attempting to sketch out the
" no-policy course " of the Cabinet, the writer
observes :

We anticipate that the new Parliament will be at once
liberal and moderate, friendly to practical
.impreovements,
and averse to sweeping, organic changes.

Surely this is the cant of a tame bureaucracy
wishing to escape from pledges and from Par-
liamentary responsibility, and anxious to grow
fat in office. If there is any meaning to be at-
tached to such language, it must signify that
the opinion of Parliament will not be asked
upon a real Reform Bill. The question must
be postponed for the private convenience of
Lord PALMERSTON and his obsequious satellites.
England is to be ruled by a dynasty of clerks
in Downing-street calling themselves states-
men, and by the threat of a large Reform Bill
in future.
But the Conservative party is too powerful
in Parliament to allow of such a delusive sys-
tem being inaugurated. Either we are to have
a Reform Bill or not; and the Minister cannot
be allowed to continue his old game of playing
fast and loose between opposite interests.
The Reform question must be settled one way
or the other. Should it be resolved to propose
a Reform Bill, the Conservatives will be pre-
pared to meet the question on its merits, to
accept its proposals if just, constitutional, and
safe, or to oppose them if revolutionary in their
aim, or, what is more likely, if they should be
partial and partisan in their provisions. On
the other hand, should Lord PALMERSTON decide
on having no Reform Bill, the fact must be
acknowledged.
The Minister, it is obvious, must speak out.
The Edinburgh Review, not long since (during
the rule of the Coalition), disserted upon
" Reform " at great length, and Lord JOHN
RUSSELL has dried up his tears, and is ready
for action on the subject. Its discussion can
neither be smothered nor avoided, and the
Premier must be prepared with an avowed
policy. He has got his majority; lie has now
to show that he can wield it. A policy of
mere words will not be accepted in a Minister
who has rivals on his flank and a strong Oppo-
sition in his front. Hitherto Lord PALMERS-
TON has escaped as a Prime Minister by relying
on the help of the Opposition. But the war
has ceased, parties have fallen into their
natural places, and, though it may he un-
palatable to the dictatorial ambition of Lord
PALMERSTON, Parliament again must resume
its constitutional control, and enforce the
salutary precept that the power of a Minister
is a trust for the community. and cannot be
confided to any personage for the mere gratifi-
cation of autocratic ambition.

DEPOSED TRIBUNES.

STAMPED ....SIXPENCE.
UNSTAMPED..FIVEPENCE.

'RING more remains to be said on the
ition from popular leadership of the

.irous declaimers who for the last ten years
have filled so large a space before the public
eye. We have read all the comments which
have appeared on the ejection from Par-
liament of the self-constituted " tribunes of
" the people." Fierce exultation, mercenary
partisanship, and in some cases the instincts
of personal animosity would seem to have
inspired the vehement rejoicings over the fall
of Messrs COBDEN, BRIGHT, arid their affiliated
supporters. We never approved of the tone of
politics adoptel by these gentlemen, and we
wero hostile to them on fundamental questions.
As we never eulogised, neither did we ever
vilify their conduct, or defame their reputa-
tions. Their motives, character, conduct, we
do not care to criticise. In a political point of
view, however, there is something to be ob-
served on their sudden downfall.
Mr. CosnaN, Mr. BRIGHT, and their personal
connection, presented the first instance of the
tribunitian element influencing Parliament
inside doors. In the last century, and prior• to
the Reform Bill, political tribunes had con-
siderable power out of doors. WILKES was a
cypher in the House of Commons, but he was
a noun of multitude out of Parliament. HORNE
TooxE was fierce and factious at the Brentford
hustings, and he wrote some stinging letters
in the political journals of the time. But
neither Waxes nor TOOKE were powerful in
the House of Commons. " The Friends of
the People" bad an organisation out of doers,
and " Camas GREY' was a member of
their confederacy ; but so little power bad
they upon the House of Commons itself, that
Mr. Ptrr told the Parliamentary Reformers
that "he could send them home in two
" hackney coaches." From the days of the
French Revolution to the Reform Bill, the
mission of a political tribune fell into lower
hands. It is enough to mention Column and.
HUNT to indicate the level of the demagogism
of that time.
After the Reform Bill, it is rather curious
that no very striking English tribune imme-
diately entered the House of Commons.
O'CONNELL was Irish, and even with the help
of the Whig aristocracy the Agitator found
his influence so restricted within Parliament
that he was glad to transfer his energies to
monster meetings. Sir JOHN WALSH, in his
" Chapters of Contemporary History," has
remarked :
It is a favourite theory with political philosophers
that as if a gentleman wants a butler or bailiff he adver-
tises for one and finds him, so that when society, or
the circumstances of the times, requires a Cromwell or a
Napoleon, the Cromwell or Napoleon is ready. If this
be true, certainly English society had no need just then
of a Radical statesman, for no democratic Pitt or Fox
started forth, a readymade head of the movement.

But though there
produced by thi

mentary power
enormously in(
for the first ti
terest. Mr.

its spokesmen,.
wealth of powerful
money as well
doubly powerful.

was settled

They had grew
relied upon

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No. 207.—V0L.V. LONDON, SATURDAY, APRIL 18, 1857,
rtS S. geneous opinions. A maladroit article in the
new number of the Edinburgh Review, entitled
aE.,
OMETH
" The Past Session and the New Parliament,"
peveals the dilemma of the Cabinet. The depositi
' LONDON, SATURDAY, APRIL 18, 1857. answer to the question of "What is to be vigorous
g. rinnu9" is arcionio in 4nnes and wilti in civic. • 1.-- 41

there was no Radical Mirabean
y the Reform Bill, the Parlia-
ver of the " Factory Lords" was
increased. Thp f ...4,,,• ~ ~. epee
time became a .
.." -1 , I'-
COBDEN
and , •• • , •t'llr/ . je-,
....0
en,
aI) d , support
werful capital** 4 - tr, . .
!Has men. Tim ~.'• , • -T,.. ,
*wit
erf u 1 . But w , ,-.. g., _m - . .
they rem •rr . - . '4'7 ..." •
;neat political:lft .•.,„.., • •
~- . tli
the public, ottruf ' •F` .
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