The Press.
London, England, 1854-03-11 00:00:00

classical authority and august shade of Lord
SOMERS.
A jealousy of any interference by another
with the construction of the House of Com-
mons is a principal characteristic of its
present leader. This feeling probably was the
cause of his too precipitately deserting his
position of " finality," which, had it been
more largely considered, and more deeply
treated, and described in better English, was,
for the successor of Earl GREY, a sound posi-
tion. But the Chartist movement disturbed
Lord JOHN ; the avowed intentions of the
Manchester school, whose political influence
was then much overrated, to revolutionise
the county constituencies, alarmed him ; the
parliamentary compromise suggested by the
blundering adroitness of Mr. Hu ME in his
annual motions perplexed him ; the impossi
bility of a limited franchise coexisting in
England with universal suffrage on the other
side of the Channel disquieted that shrewd,
shallow, meddling class of men who are fairly
represented by a Duke of Bedford ; the oc
casion seemed exigent, Lord JOHN could not
permit the unhallowed hand of JOSEPH HUME
to touch the ark, and in 1850-1, after much
anxious deliberation, he became a progressive
Reformer.
In all this his conduct must entirely be
distinguished from that of an ordinary
politician ; like Sir JAMES GRAHAM for ex-
ample. Sir JAMES GRAHAM takes up Parlia-
mentary Reform to spite Lord DERBY and
punish the country gentlemen ; he chuckles
with glee over some Conservative peer, who
was his former supporter, losing a seat, and
rubs his hands at the drastic effects of the
ten-pound franchise in counties on tradi-
tionary influences. He views Parliamentary
Reform merely as a partisan, as, indeed, he
views everything, even the command of our
fleets. Strange that a man who is always
changing sides should be such an acrinlonious
adherent!
Lord JOHN RUSSELL has staked the fortunes
of the Whig party, and his own fame, on a
remodelling of the House of Commons. He
has done this after deep thought and long
calculation. He will not be deterred from his
object by the captiousness of followers, whose
want of prescience he despises. To secure
his end, he condescended to become the
subordinate of Lord ABERDEEN, and in that
capacity he is content to remain, if Lord
ABERDEEN and his convenient following will
effect the purposes of the Leader of the House
of Commons, knowing very well that in that
event the name of RUSSELL, the Parliamentary
Reformer, will figure in the page of history,
while that of Lord ABERDEEN, as Prime
Minister, will be as obscure, or as dis-
esteemed, as those of Lord WILMINGTON or
Lord BUTE. If they cannot effect his purpose,
he will not remain in his subordinate posi-
tion, but will assume that one which is more
likely to conduce to the attainment of his
sovereign purpose. If the Coalition, unable
to accomplish this purpose, were to break up,
Lord JOHN RUSSELL would be at the head of
an united and powerful Opposition. He would
not be, as in 1851, the chief of a small band
of shattered Whigs, surrounded by insolent
or ambitious confederacies. The day of sec-
tions would be over. He would sit in his
place the foremost Reformer of the land. The
followers of Sir ROBERT PEEL, instead of
clustering below the gangway, and supporting
by a subvention a conceited newspaper, for