The Press.
London, England, 1853-06-11 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

" Reserves gave him some encouragement" to
expect similar spoliation of the Irish Church
must have reminded his lordship how very re-
cent his conversion has been to his present
Conservative love of endowments, and how
little his acts have been in accordance with hie
present " sentiments."
One great advantage possessed by a compo-
sition Cabinet has been exhibited by the MON-
SELL correspondence, and the circumstances
out of which it arose. There is no shade of
opinion for which it cannot find an advocate
within its own body, who can put forward his
" individual " opinions whenever it is useful,
while the political fiction of a Ministry is re
sponsible for nothing. Lord JOHN may throw
a tub to Exeter Hall, and ABERDEEN insinuate
admiration of the "Catholic Defence A ssocia-
tion." The Cabinet does not express an
opinion, whatever " any " or " many" of its
members may think. It reminds us of a story
by a well-known novelist of two worthy bro-
thers, who, by a convenient division of creeds,
amassed wealth during the religious wars in
France. The elder stood by the old faith, the
younger joined the ranks of the Huguenots.
Tired of unprofitably fighting at opposite
sides, they at length united, and sallied forth
in conjunction to better their fortune. Then
all fell out prosperously ; the elder brother
levied contributions on every defenceless
Huguenot in the name of Mother Church, and
allowed the Catholics to pass on to the
younger, who mulcted them in the name of
Protestant liberty.
But, seriously, who does represent Minis-
, terial opinions, if any such there be ? The
Leader of the House of Commons, in an im
portant debate, delivers himself' of " senti-
" ments" and " reasons" which are not shared
by the Prime Minister nor by many of his
colleagues ; whereupon he is cheered by his
opponents, astonishes his supporters, and is
snubbed by his chief. From what source is
Ministerial wisdom to well out upon us ? Are
we to receive the exposition of Lord JOHN
RUSSELL, or that of Lord ABERDEEN, Or wait to
he informed haw many are in favour of each ?
Or must we accept the duality offered to us by
Lord ABERDEEN, and distinguish the Leader of
the House of Commons from the member for
the city of London ? Mr. MONSELL assents to
this subtle distinction, and hints, not oh
seurely, that he will not in future regard what
the latter says, unless he knows him to ex-
press the opinions of the former. But how is
he or any one else to ascertain what character
the noble lord supports in any debate ? Cos-
tume might do something ; a Ministerial
uniform (were anything connected with the
present Ministry deserving of the name) might
distinguish the actor from the individual. The
noble lord might then, without misleading
friends or foes, be officially unmeaning and
void of offence towards all men, and after a
change of dress pour forth his personal indig
nation against the ingratitude of the heads of
a Church he has petted so long. A difficulty
certainly might arise when, as in the present
instance, the two parts are to be sustained in
one speech.
A Scottish proverb, known, probably. to
Lord ABERDEEN, says, " A crack lets the licht
in " Perhaps. by the light thus admitted into
a Cabinet full of fractures, his lordship
may now discover that it is not easy to
keep his subordinates in order." Mani-
festly, from the tone of his letter, he is
wiser than when he replied to Lord DERBY,
and has found that he has at least one of whom
he may speak as such. Lord JOHN has learned
from experience that " when two ride a horse.
one must go behind ;" and perhaps all may
have a glimmering impression that they came
together hastily, and upon a wrong basis ; that
the " idem nolle" is not a sufficient bond of
party, more than of friendship, without the
idea relit ;" that negative premises cannot
lead to an affirmative conclusion; or a sur-
render of individual opinions make up a
policy.