The Express.
London, England, 1855-02-08 00:00:00

THE NEW MINISTRY AND THE WAR.

LORD PALMERSTON is Prime Minister of Eng.
land. After forty-four years of official life he has
reached the top of the tree. Lord PALMERSTON owes
the position he occupies more to his own abilities,
and less to connexions, than perhaps any of his asso-
ciates or rivals is the political arena. He has
ambition, and he has the sentiments of an English
gentleman. • There are, therefore, good grounds for
believing that he will aspire to render his Admi-

nistration one of note and mark in the annals of his

country; and that be will aim at this end by means

conducive to the honour and interests of England.
Whether he will be able to realise hie aspirations,

by the co-operation of the Ministers he has sasociated
with him in office, time will show. The material

changes in the composition of the Cabinet are confined
to the secession of the Earl of ABERDEEN, the Duke

of NEWCASTLE, and Lord JOHN RUSSELL; and

the accession of Lord PANIIIIRF. In the Earl of

ABERDEEN, the country has got rid of a Premier
whom the instinctive sense of the public taught it to

distrust and recoil from, even before the damning
evidence that has of late been produced re-
vealed to all men his incapacity. In the Duke
of NEWCASTLE the country has got rid of a
Minister singularly tenacious of office, and singu-
larly incompetent to discharge its duties. On the
other hand, the country has lost in Lord Jour;
RUSSELL a statesman whom recent revelations

prove to have been earnest in urging his colleagues
on to decided action, and intolerant of mere for-
malism in office. How far the accession of Lord
Pstatuaz will compensate for the loss of
Lord JOHN remains to be seen. Thus much
may

be predicated of Lord PANIRIRE'S fit-
__ for the office he now fills :—To carry
into effect the radical and sweeping reforms
called for in the British army, a Minister is required
who can, when necessary, do unpleasant things; and

Lord PANMURE has shown that he not only can do

unpleasant things, but take pleasure in doing them.
Turning from individuals to the general aspect of the
re-constructed Cabinet, it does not appear fitted
to inspire muck confidence. The Peelites and
the colourless Whigs predominate too much in
it. That, however, is mainly Lord PALMERSTON'B
concern. He has undertaken to accomplish the
arduous task which lies before him by the instru-
mentality of these colleagues; and he is as
much responsible for the selection of his instrn-
meats as for the use he may put them to.
If the country at large is disposed to place more con-
fidence in the reconstructed Cabinet than it did in the
Cabinet which preceded the late break-up, it is simply
because Lord PALMERSTON, instead of Lord ABER-
DEEN, is at the head of it. Whatever hopes may be
entertained of improved management of the war re-
Fee upon Lord PauleastoN. If these hopes are
realised, the glory will be Lord PALMERSTON'S ; if
they prove abortive, upon him will fall the shame and
blame of failure. It he set to work honestly and
energetically to repair the evils occasioned by the
narrow views, indifference, and incapacity of his pre-
decessor, the country will support him.

The conjuncture at which Lord PALMERSTON sizes
the reins of State is critical in the extreme. There
is no use in seeking to conceal the low ebb to which
the British force in the Crimea has been reduced.
The exposure of its weakness will be no news to the
Om, and will not encourage him to an attack; for
he knows that the British are supported by the
French before Sebastopol; and he is further kept
in check by the Turkish force gathering on his flank
at Enpatoria. The condition of the Allies, and of the
Russian army opposed to them, renders it extremely
probable that operations will be in a great measure
suspended on both sides till the middle of March. The
interval ie the time allowed to Lord PALMERSTON to
reinforce our army and complete its organisation, and
to concert with our Allies in what manner the cam-
paign is to be renewed in the Crimes. For the state
of Sebastopol is now such, that, in all likelihood
instead of making its reduction the preliminary
step to the ejection of the dispirited Russians from
the Crimea, it will be found necessary first to drive
the Russians from the Crimea, and then redoes
Sebastopol by regular siege or even by the slow pro.
sea of blockade. One of our correspondents writes
The fortress has grown so strong—and it is
growing stronger—that the result of a cannonade
and an attack would be most problematical. Where
we used to see plain earth, there are now batteries;
and, in Sebastopol, every house is a fort and every
palace a citadel." •

The first care of Lord PALMERSTON Mist be to
have our army placed upon a proper footing. Our
Allies have a right to expect that we will take our
fair share of the work; and the national safety is
incompatible with an ignominious retreat from the
struggle in which we have engaged. At pre-
sent it does not appear that the English
army in the Crimea could muster much more
than 16,000 effective men. Reinforcements, it is
true, continue to drop in, and there are always a
proportion of the invalids who recover their strength
and return to duty. But both these sources are
inadequate to compensate for the drain of 1,000
men per week—the rate at which the effective
force of the army would but for them be diminished.